The Avenger's Falcon (Part of 'The Return of Pietro Maximoff' series)
by abstract0118
Summary: Sam Wilson is not a regular guy, despite some people's beliefs. His daunting past and regrets always catch up to him, no matter how hard he tries to chase them away. Will joining the Avengers and meeting Hill's new assistant help him? Set after AOU and may contain M chapters only if requested. Part of Return of Pietro Maximoff series. ON HOLD UNTIL JULY/AUGUST!
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first Falcon one that I've done. This starts off with quite a lot of backstory, incorporating the comics into this as well as it fitting into the storyline. The story of Riley has been only slightly tweaked in this and I mean Riley - the one who was Falcon's best buddy.**

 **In this version, Falcon fights in AOU by the way.**

 **I thought it would be really interesting to see thing to Sam's perspective, a POV that people don't get a lot of. PART OF ROPMS!**

 **Please tell me which POV you would prefer:**

 **1\. Falcon?**

 **2\. Elisa?**

 **3\. Both?**

 **I've never written a male POV, but I think it might be nice to try it from his perspective. What do you think?**

 **Thank you!**

 **NEARLY 13,000 words!**

Most people are unaware that I didn't have the best start in life. I grew up in a tough neighbourhood in Washington, D.C, where getting punched in the face was a normal everyday occurrence. My father was a minister and died trying to stop a fight that began on the streets, but unfortunately died because of it. Me and him didn't get on particularly well, but he was still my father, the guy who raised me, and my heart ached when I found out. I wasn't that old, only 7, so I guess it changed me, but the anger that formed inside of me occurred 8 years after that when my mother died when two muggers cornered her on her way home from work.

I was out for a run at the time, funnily enough not getting chased by anyway, when I decided to go home as she would be back soon. I was training up to be in the army, like my father used to be. I felt as if I had to honour him and my school grades weren't exactly the best. My mother worked a few late shifts a night at the hospital to pay for food and bills now that my father was gone. I was walking through the streets, keeping my head down when shady people walked past me, ones that I had history with, when noticed a body lying on the floor in an alleyway. There were two figures standing over it, one of the figures holding a knife in his hand.

 _"Hey!" I shouted and ran down to face them. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked. The men were big, at least a few inches taller than me, and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to beat them, but I had to try. I looked down at the person lying on the floor and saw that it was a woman. It was my mother. I stared at her, watching the blood pooling out of her clothes. I couldn't remove my eyes from her until I was punched in the face by one of the attackers._

 _I was immediately knocked to the floor and they started to kick my stomach, pain spreading through me at the hits I was receiving. Someone must've seen the attack as I heard police sirens wailing in the distance. I felt them stop kicking me and heard them scuttle off to whatever hole they came from._

 _My head was turned on its side and my face was pointed in the direction of my dead mother, lying there on the ground. Tears were welling up in my eyes and I felt rage boil through me at the sight. I tried to shuffle closer, but a policeman came up to me and helped me to my feet. He took my hands and I remember the conversation to this day._

 _"Son, are you alright? What happened here?" he asked and suddenly I felt like I couldn't speak. My throat felt blocked and I couldn't find the oxygen to breath. I felt my heartbeat get faster and faster and I could feel myself falling down to the ground. The officer put his arm around me, holding me up. He could tell I was injured. I saw more policeman rush past me, guns up, following the person that had just stabbed my mother and hurt me. My eyes never moved off of my mother. "Do you know who this woman is?" he asked and I still couldn't respond with words. Instead I reached into my pocket and pulled out the wallet that I always carried on me. I handed it to him and he must've looked at me curiously, but I was too transfixed on my mother to realise._

 _Her face was relaxed and it looked like she was sleeping. I wished that she was sleeping, but I knew that she wasn't. I wanted to kill them. I wanted to kill the people that had taken her from me. They were both gone now, both of my parents were gone._

 _"I'm sorry." the policeman said as someone came to put a sheet over the body. I let them. In reality, I had to stop staring at my mother's face as it was making me feel sick with grief. The policeman took me into the car and took me off to the station. I was left sitting in the back, staring at the head rest of the driving in front, blaming myself for not running down the roads fast enough to get to her in time._

I didn't speak for days after it happened, only finally opening up when Riley, my best friend, was allowed to see me. Me and him were friends since secondary school started, never wanting to get into fights, but always seeming to. We both wanted to be in the military, not on the ground, but in the air. Everything seemed much more interesting from a bird's eye view.

Life without my mother was hard and I found it difficult to fit back into normal life, the only reminder of my old life being Riley when we hung out together, more often since his parents let me stay at his after I was parentless. We were practically brothers and it reminded me of Steve and Bucky, not that I knew much about them then. I knew they were in the military and that Steve was Captain America and Bucky was a sergeant, Captain America's best friend. Riley was my version of Bucky. We even read the comic books about them sometimes - the adventures of Captain America. I found some old radio shows online that even had Captain America broadcasts that were invented to keep the memory of him alive after he was plunged into the ocean.

Riley helped me remain calm, my anger consuming me most of the time. I got into many fights at school and became known as 'Snap', because of my quick temper. I used to take my anger out on punch bags, but it didn't really helped. I had attempted to find the thugs that killed my mother, but I had no luck, only eventually getting a little bit of relief knowing that the police had captured them a few months later. I decided to take up karate lessons and Riley did too. I don't think he particularly needed to as his brothers had taught him how to fight, but unfortunately I didn't have any siblings. Well...unless you counted Riley. He helped me become a better fighter and I thanked him for that more times than I could count.

So me and RIley became our own superheroes, making our way up the military ladder, becoming paratroopers for the United States Air Force. We were both paired up in the 58th rescue squadron and given the EXO-7 Falcon mechanical wing harness to test out, allowing us to fly. In all those years as a child, I never believed that I would actually fly. Me and him were readying ourselves for a mission in Afghanistan.

 _"Falcon 1, ready?" the pilot asked me over the comms unit._

 _"Yes, ma'am." I replied, formally, tightening the straps on my shoot and looking out over the nights sky._

 _"Falcon 2, ready?" the woman asked again, this time to my best friend standing next to me in a copy of the suit I had. They were the only two suits that had been made so far, the army deeming them perfect for our skill sets._

 _"Strapped and ready, ma'am." he replied, flashing the woman a cocky smile when she glanced over at him. She let her lips rise a little, but turned back to face the wheel._

 _"You know, you should ask her out." I said to him, smirking at the man. Riley was good at flirting, in a similar way to me actually but he never thought about actually going into a relationship with someone._

 _"Maybe after the mission." he replied, checking that his gloves were secure, trying to distract himself from the conversation._

 _"You said that last time." I reminded him, raising an eyebrow._

 _"You guys know I can hear you, right?" the pilot, Ashley, asked, looking back at us from the cockpit. I could see Riley panic for a moment, worried how she was going to react, but slipped back to his confident front almost immediately. He could flirt for sure, but when he actually cared about someone, he lost his cool. I had noticed the two of them talking earlier while we were preparing to board the plane and saw them exchange a few more than friendly glances at each other._

 _"Oh we know." Riley replied, chuckling to himself, and Ashley rolled her eyes, though a smile was on her face too._

 _"Get the job done and I will go on a date with you…" she said, playfully, looking forward at the path set._

 _"Deal." Riley accepted immediately and I laughed at their antics. I hadn't had time to find a girl to properly settle down with. I had a few flings with some of the agents, my charm naturally bleeding through, but no one that I didn't feel like I could stay with for longer than a month. Believe me, I loved women, but I didn't seem to find the right one. Distracting myself from my troublesome love life, I looked out at the night sky, wondering whether me and my partner were even going to make it through the mission. We had been sent to capture Khalid Khandil, a huge target to the United States Armed Forces. We were being sent in to apprehend him incase he tried to fight back, which he was expected to do. I had been injured in a mission with Riley before, taking a bullet wound to the arm, which only had me in the hospital for a week or so, but there was always another opportunity for either one of us to get shot down._

 _"Nervous?" Riley asked and I turned my head to him. The man who I had grown up with was asking me whether I was nervous about the possibility of us getting killed? There was always a possibility, but Khandil had a lot of firepower._

 _"Course not." I lied, looking back out at the darkness. "You?" I asked, tilting my head to see him smile at my question._

 _"Course not." he repeated and I smiled at him. We both knew that we were lying and worrying about the same thing, but we never stressed the issue out loud, not wanting to think about how it would hurt us if one of us did get injured or worse than that killed. I had these thoughts run through my mind every mission and it always brought me back to the same thoughts of us wanting to be Captain America. The only problem was that I couldn't stop remembering how Bucky had died, leaving Captain America behind, thought it wasn't for very long. However, the probability of me being in a ship when I already had a set of wings and also me being frozen wasn't very high. We were standing in the plane, waiting for the possible instructions to come through._

 _"How long do you think we'll be doing this for?" I asked him, leaning against the side of the plane, keeping a hand wrapped around a pole to steady myself._

 _"Hmm...I couldn't imagine stopping. Why you thinking about retiring on me?" he asked, smiling as he knew I would never leave him behind._

 _"What? And have you get into even more trouble than you already do? I don't think so." I said, shaking my head._

 _"I don't get into that much trouble." he argued, glaring at me._

 _"I beg to differ." Ashley commented and I smirked at her._

 _"Hey, you're meant to be on my side." he pointed out and she laughed. He pointed at me. "You too, so called 'partner'." he said, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest._

 _"Excuse me," I said, breaking out into a small grin. "Who does all of your paperwork every time we comple-"_

 _"Guys, Khandil's on the move." Ashley butted in, my focus of filling out the paperwork after every mission now out of my brain. The rapid fire of bullets could be heard from where we were stationed above the facility in case the unit infiltrating below us needed any help._

 _I looked at Riley and he nodded at me, both of us prepared to jump off the helicopter to sail down and take down the enemy. "Attack in 3…" the woman began counting down. "2…" I tightened the fists surrounded by my gloves to calm the adrenaline that was pumping through my body. "1…" she said and me and RIley simultaneously leapt out of the building, arm locked to our sides as we glided down towards the base._

 _"Falcon 2, go East. Falcon 1, take the West." Ashley informed us and I looked at Riley who smiled sadly at me before gliding off, heading to the right hand side of the building. I followed the orders and sailed down left, my wings expanding and taking the full force of the wind powering behind me._

 _I glided down to the West side, immediately taking out my guns and shooting down the enemies who were attacking our troops. I landed on the ground, taking one of the enemies' guns, and using it to hit the man in the face knocking him backwards. I flew up, my training coming into us as I kicked the man powerfully in the stomach with both of my feet. Most of them were down and I helped take down the rest._

 _"He hidden himself in the North East side of the building. Most of it is open-air, but he has five men surrounding him, most likely carrying weapons. Both of you get there now. Be careful." Ashley informed us. I flew to the sky's knowing that our forces could take out the remaining guards stationed on the West side as I went to join my wingman._

 _"Engaging." Riley said, through the earpiece as he fired at the men hiding on the East side. I heard an explosion from not too far away as I glided over the building to get to my partner, soon seeing a large fire form on the sand from an explosion. "They have RPG's" Riley reported and I saw him trying to dodge out of the way of them as they attacked him._

 _"Falcon, hurry." Ashley warned me and I shot forward, desperate to help my friend. I saw one of the guards being taken down my Riley's bullets and then another. I flew towards them, shooting one of them straight in the head. I noticed Khandil in the corner, cowering as the fight was taking place._

 _I brought my gun up, ready to shoot the other enemy that was shooting at my best friend, but the guard knocked the gun out of my hand, hitting my in the elbow. My gun flew across the floor and I didn't go to reach for it, instead deciding to block the fist that was aimed at my face. I punched him in the gut, causing him to bend over and kneed him in the face. He stumbled back slightly and went to bring out his own hand gun, but I quickly intercepted it and held it to his forehead quickly._

 _I was about to engage with the guard when an explosion sounded, causing some feedback to my earpiece. I shook my head, holding my hand to my ear, and tried to steady myself for an attack. Fortunately, I still fired at the guard and he fell to the ground instantly as I spun round, shooting the last guard._

 _I would've turned round to arrest Khandil, but my eyes caught something crashing from the sky. "Riley!" I heard Ashley scream into my earpiece, but it was a whisper to me. I watched as the ball of flames glided through the air, little sparks of fire coming off of it, as it slowly made it's way down. That's how it felt to me. It all happened in slow motion, the burning flame of my best friend gradually getting closer and closer to the ground, which wasn't going to affect his body at all as he was already dead. The sharp, orange and yellow light burned against my eyes, but I couldn't look away. The one last thing I had left in the world was gone and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I heard orders being shouted in my ears, but I was ignoring them, not by choice, but I couldn't hear them. The witty, charming, stupid man that I had known for the past 27 years had left me._

The mission was fine. Some of the other agents had picked up Khandil when he got away from my location as I was distracted. Ashley was devastated over Riley's death, but I was completely broken. I tried to carry on serving, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it after that. So, I decided to go back to Washington and find my place there.

I spent the first few months just resting, the money from the government giving me more than enough to be comfortable. I bought a new place and spent lots of money on pillows. They were my new favourite thing. Comfortable sleeping in the force wasn't very common. We spent most of our missions in tents and even when we were at base, the pillows, or that's what they called them, were like rocks. I had never fully appreciated the softness and comfort of a pillow until I returned back home. I spent every morning running, trying to get back into it. Even though I had missions abroad and we were technically doing a workout for those, I couldn't go for my morning runs. The camps were too small and it was too dangerous to go outside of the zones they had put us in, so missions were our only form of exercise.

I had regular appointments with a psychologist to make sure that I didn't top myself of Riley's death. I was incredibly saddened by it, but was much better than I was when I was in the military. Being in that environment didn't make me feel comfortable, so I had to stop. The PTSD was too much. Nightmares were a common occurrence. After he died, I used to wake up screaming every night, the image of him falling and me standing there, unable to anything, replaying over and over in my head. The environment reminded me of the reason why he was dead and I couldn't deal with that, so I went home, often finding myself walk past the place where my mother was murdered. I always stopped myself, standing in front of where her body had been lying. I had that memory permanently tattooed into my mind. Two tours was enough for me.

After a year, I was trying to get on with my life, still owning a lot of money from the army days. I could've not gotten a job at all, but when my therapist recommended becoming a group therapist, helping people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder get past it. The man who was helping me said that I had improved incredibly well since I had first arrived and I even stopped attending the sessions a while after that, not feeling like I needed them anymore. I did have nightmares a few days of the month, only waking up screaming on some occasions, but they were only about once a month, which I didn't consider to be very often.

Joining the Department of Veterans Affairs was the best decision I ever made. I got trained up and become qualified as a therapist, but took my own spin to doing the job. I always did want to help others and this seemed like the best way to do it. There were quite a few people in the group that had been through the army and had gotten worse from Loki invading the city, feeling helpless from the constant reminder that the people they loved weren't safe. I reassured them by saying that they had people to protect them and that withdrawing from the army was what they needed to do, because there were soldiers around the world fighting the battles that they can't and protecting them from harm.

I seemed to be doing a good job. Some observers came in and saw how I did things and they were pretty pleased with what I was doing. I liked planning the things that we were going to work through each week and they pay was quite good as well. I did one-to-one sessions occasionally, but I made a habit not to take on more than three people. Working as a group to sort out issues seemed to be much more effective. Only if issues were serious enough, I would provide them with one-to-one sessions. It helped me as well, reducing the nightmares that I had, but I still woke up screaming sometimes. I didn't know that meeting Captain America would only make the matters worse. It wasn't his fault, I knew that, but I can't help think that my nightmares would've been saved if I never planned to go along with his crazy ideas.

I first met him in the park as I was out for my morning run. I'd had quite a good morning, but felt a little down-sized by the man who was practically speeding around the park.

"On your left." a man said, running past me, and he was so fast that I couldn't see his face. I had seen this man before, beginning to run in the park as soon as I had finished. I guessed it was something to do with his work schedule as he would be there at 8 on the dot every morning, whereas I would start at 7. However, this morning he was here at half past seven, which set me on edge slightly. The guy was huge, not as big as Thor, but still huge. 'Obviously a fitness nut' I thought to myself as I continued to jog.

Not too long afterwards, the man came around again. "On your left." he repeated. I was debating whether he was trying to take the piss out of me or whether he was genuinely concerned about him surprising me as he came around.

"On my left. Got it." I said, hoping that he would get the hint to stop. He shot off again and I wondered more about who his was. He looked recognisable, but I couldn't quite put a name to the face. Perhaps he was an old friend, perhaps not. I hadn't been talking to anyone recently apart from the group of people that I had therapy with. To be honest, I was a bad role model. I wasn't taking therapy myself and I didn't talk to any of my friends, which was the exact opposite of what I was advising them to do.

I noticed the man nearing me from a corner I had just turned. Well...he would've been far away, but this man seemed to be quite the athlete. He was creeping up behind me and I warned him. "Don't say it. Don't you say it."

"On your left." he repeated and I rolled my eyes as I ran, trying to catch up with him out of stubbornness. By this time, I had been running for the past fifty minutes and couldn't even keep close with him. I decided to stop, my hands going on my knees, as I tried to breathe like a normal person, not caring about whether anyone saw me. I didn't know anyone, so it wouldn't have matter whether anyone had seen me or not. I watched the man run, or rather sprint, and noticed where I had seen him before. Battle of New York. I had heard about it when I was in Afghanistan, the faces of Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, two people that weren't name, but looked similar to that of S.H.I.E.L.D agents and lastly Captain America. The man who was sprinting around the park. The man who had joked with me about my running speed.

When I came to the realisation, I was a little struck by how casual he was. I thought he would be constantly protected by guards on either side of him and a leash around his neck to keep him from being assassinated. I guess he didn't need any help from anyone though being a super soldier.

His humorous side reminded me of Riley and I felt a pang in my chest at the memory of us running together in the mornings, him taking it up with me after my mother had died. I thought about him and how he must've felt, waking up in a time when nobody knew him. It just made me think about how me and him were quite similar, me without any modifying serums though I wish I did. However, the only reason he survived was because of the serum and I thought about how he might be immortal, the people he loves just passing him by in life.

My thoughts went to Bucky and how he must've felt when he lost him. Did a pain go through his chest whenever he remembered the fact that his best friend had left him? Not that I would ever find out. He was a high profile agent and I was only a councillor now.

I had walked a small amount of the way to the tree where I was going to rest my ass for a while when I picked up into a run again, the oxygen circulating round my body properly. I had only run about two metres when Rogers passed me again, saying what was going to become his catchphrase.

 _"On your left." he said for the fourth fucking time. I had to admire him and his speed. I knew he was only messing with me and I wasn't taking his little jabs seriously._

 _"Nice catchphrase." I shouted to him and I could've sworn I heard him laugh. I watched him run to the end of the stretch of concrete before turning right to go around the circuit again. I had only just reached the main road before Steve was going to pass me again and this time he ran past without saying that catchphrase which I had come to know him by, being too far away from me to say it without shouting._

 _I slumped down by the tree, resting my head against it, and watched him sprint, arms at perfect angles, leg coming up just high enough. He could've been on an advert and I wouldn't have even known._

 _I turned my head, my chest rising up and down from the heaving breaths in my lungs, and noticed that a man was sitting on a bench staring straight at me. I furrowed my eyebrows, a little confused as to why he was looking at me. I guess I was a little paranoid, but then I realised that it was most likely Steve's guards that were making sure I wasn't a threat. I looked to the bench on the opposite side of the water where another man was sitting, inconspicuously reading a newspaper, also staring in my direction. I turned my head to face forward, watching the cars pass by as I relaxed my body, my energy dropping into the floor._

 _"Need a medic?" I heard a voice ask from behind me. I turned and looked at him, completing my theory about him. He was definitely Steve Rogers._

 _"I need a new set of lungs." I told him and he laughed. I decided that I kinda liked this guy. He seemed normal enough, not the old fashioned person that people were showing him off to be. "Dude, you just ran, like 13 miles in 30 minutes."_

 _"I guess I got a late start." he replied and I couldn't tell whether he was joking or not._

 _"Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." I told him and looked out at the rectangular area that we had just been running in. I looked back and asked "Did you just take it? I assumed you just took it."_

 _He smiled and pointed at my jumper. I hadn't even realised that I had put it on, but, for some reason, it was the only iten that I had that didn't make me think of Riley too much. They allowed me to keep his dog tags, which were sitting in the drawer with mine. They had remained that way ever since I had gotten back. "What unit you with?" he asked and started a conversation with me about the army. It made me realise the similarities that we shared. I hadn't gotten along with anyone for the past few years, my temper taking over every time, but Steve made me feel relaxed and at ease. I even invited him to the VA, half joking about the matter, but I wouldn't mind seeing this guy again. I wouldn't be able to contact him any other way and he seemed nice, but I didn't want to ask for his number, thinking that it may have been a little weird to do._

 _After recommending one of the best soundtracks of all time - Trouble Man soundtrack by Marvin Gaye, 1972, a track that me and Riley used to listen to in the army - I went home, showered, and went to the offices to my first meeting, going on with my day like I hadn't met Captain America that morning._

 _The next few days went by quite smoothly, Captain America surprisingly coming into the VA. I was talking with my group discussing how nightmares affected them, doing a session that had now become three times instead of one time a week. No one was telling me to do it, but I wanted to help them. I had sessions most days now, at least 2 each day whether they were individual meetings or group meetings._

 _"Visions weren't always part of my day to day life, but the thing is, I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week. He thought I was drunk." Cindy told me, pushing her hands together as she shared her struggles with the group. "I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED." I had done exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago, but when I was just walking in the street. It isn't something that you would expect to bring back with you from the battles, but you do._

 _"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back." I began, remembering that a lot of my memories have been brought back and re-lived. Many times. "It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase, or in a little-man purse? It's up to you." In all honestly, I needed a fucking moving truck to carry the shit I was dealing with in my head._

 _My eyes caught someone moving at the door and I thought it was someone who had missed or was joining the meeting, but that wasn't the case. I was surprised to see Steve Rogers there, looking in from the window, watching me talk to the group._

 _"Alright, that is all from this week. Thank you very much." I told them, noticing that we had run five minutes over. I didn't care about that though. It wasn't exactly like I had a boss in reality._

 _The woman who had been speaking moments ago came up and said "I'll see you next week." referring to the one-to-one appointment that we were going to have on Wednesday._

 _"Definitely." I replied, smiling at the woman. I hadn't really made friends, but I guess you could define the people in therapy friends, even if some of them did leave every few weeks._

 _Everyone filed out of the room and I met with Rogers outside of it. "Look who it is," I began. "The running man." He smiled and looked back into the room I had been talking in._

 _"Caught the last few minutes." he told me, gesturing to it and I looked back at it briefly. "It's pretty intense."_

 _"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems." I told him, hoping to find some common ground with him as I was sure he felt the same thing as I did. "Guilt, regret." he said and he raised his eyebrows, catching onto what I was saying, not that I particularly wanted to talk about it._

 _"You lose someone?" he asked, sincerely. 'I've lost a lot more than one person' I thought in my head, but didn't want him to know the details to that. My mother, father and the person who was practically my brother. I couldn't remember whether Steve's parents were alive or dead, but I made it my task to find out._

 _"My wingman, Riley." I replied, the familiar chest pain coming back to me. "Flying a night mission. Infiltrate the enemy. It was simple, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before." I told him, my mind going back to standing on that rooftop, watching my best friend burn in flames as he fell to the floor. "But we underestimated the fire power they had. An RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. It was like I was up there just to watch." I honestly felt like a spectator, unable to change the events that had happened, the only thing being that I could've gotten there quicker. I could've flown there quicker, taken down the enemy more efficiently and it would've saved him. I should've fought better to save Riley in the same way I should've run faster to save my mother._

 _"I'm sorry." he said, genuinely. I honestly believed that he shared the same pain I did. Losing Bucky must've been awfully hard on him._

 _"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"_

 _"But you're happy now, back in the world?" he asked, raising an eyebrow._

 _I gestured around me. "The number of people giving the orders is down to about zero." I smiled. "So, hell yeah. Are you thinking about getting out?" I asked, wondering whether he was back in the world._

 _"No." he said, sounding a little unsure. I never thought Captain America would be one to doubt himself. "I don't know. To be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did." He reminded me of a teenager, indecisive about the future and what they wanted to do. I got the impression that he didn't just come here to talk to me, but came here because he needed help. I didn't mind and I wouldn't bring it up, but he was lost. It had been two years and he was still lost._

 _"Ultimate fighting?" I suggested and he laughed. "Just a great idea off the top of my head. Seriously, you could do whatever you want to do." I added, trying to make him feel inspired to go with his heart. "What makes you happy?"_

 _"I don't know." he replied, shrugging. 'Well, that's a great start.' I thought to myself._

 _"Any hobbies? Knitting, that sort of thing?" I asked, leaning against the wall. He stood, hands behind his back, in a standard soldier position. I guessed that he had gotten used to being the soldier that everyone always wanted, but it was up to him what he was, not the people._

 _He shrugged again. "I'm into art I guess. Spent a lot of time drawing when I was in the army."_

 _"There you go. Do some more of that. Maybe sell it if you're good enough?" I said and he scoffed. He was most likely being modest and was actually really good at art, seeing as he was good at everything. "I'm serious. You may find yourself being more famous for that than your work for the government." I said and he raised an eyebrow._

 _"You really think so? They are pretty determined for me to be the soldier." he replied, dipping his head down slightly, his gaze locking onto the floor. I decided to voice my own thoughts in hope that it would make him feel better._

 _"Steve," I began, feeling comfortable using a first name basis now. Using his surname felt a bit too formal as well. I felt like a friend giving advice, not a therapist telling him what he should or shouldn't be doing. "The world has made you into the soldier, that's what they want, but it's up to you what you want to be. They can't make you be something that you don't want to be."_

 _He looked up and a small smirk came to his lips. "Did you write that down first or was it off the top of your head?" he asked and I laughed at him, finding his humour similar to mine._

 _"Oh, you know me. Always prepared." I smiled and he nodded._

 _"I need to go, but I'll come in to talk you at some other time if that's alright." he said and I watched him turn around._

 _"Hang on," I said, causing him to stop and spin back round to me. I pulled a business card out of my pocket and handed it to him. "Just incase you have a heart attack while running or need a therapist to get your head straight."_

 _He smiled at me and took the card, looking at it for a moment before slipping it into his own pocket. He held out his hand and I shook it, trying not to wince at the strong grip he had. "Thank you, Sam." he replied and I nodded._

 _"Anything to get me noticed by the receptionist." I said, looking over to the receptionist at the desk who was looking at us. He laughed and left, leaving me to walk back to my office to look at my appointments for later in the day._

Steve seemed really lost and, in all honesty, I wonder whether he will ever be able to change. It must've been incredibly difficult for him to adjust.

Even though I gave Steve my card, he didn't call me. I was slightly disappointed, because we did get along and I thought we were friends. The next time I saw him wasn't exactly what I expected.

 _I came back from my morning run, noticing that Steve wasn't there when I went, not even there when it neared 8 o'clock. There had been reports in the news about him, some for and some against. I switched on the television and saw a report saying that Steve Rogers had committed a criminal offensive, whereas the paper that was placed on the table said a different storing. Many people on the internet had said that he must've had a reason to go against the government though I was unsure that he did. I didn't believe in all the things that the press were saying, the comments saying he was a fugitive. He wouldn't do that. He didn't seem like that kind of guy._

 _I heard a knock on the door as soon as I picked up my orange juice. I looked at the orange juice and really wanted to take a refreshing sip, but decided to open the door instead. I placed the glass on the table and walked over to the door, looking over to the gun that was stored in the secret compartment by the letterbox._

 _I opened the door and was surprised to see Steve standing there, a woman that I had seen earlier in the car with him practically slumped on his shoulder. What the hell had those two been though? The woman's hair was scruffy and covered in dirt. Steve's had less dirt in it as it wasn't long, but looked much scruffier. There was a streak of dried blood on the woman's cheek and Steve had scratches across his face, some of which had already scarred over, probably from the serum. I had guessed from the beginning that this woman had been a spy like Rogers, shadily sitting in the car with straight hair and a false smile. I had my suspicions, but this confirmed it._

 _"Hey man." I greeted casually, standing in the doorway waiting for an explanation. I only then realised that he had gotten my address from the card that I gave him that stated my address in case of emergencies._

 _"I'm sorry about this." he said, shuffling slightly to hold Natasha a little better. I wondered whether they were a couple and cursed in my mind for even considering the idea. Of course they were! Two people that good-looking. How could they stay away from each other? "We need a place to lay low."_

 _"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." the woman added. She was small, much small compared to Steve, but looked stronger than the average_

 _"Not everyone." I replied and stepped aside to let them through the door. The swiftly came into the house and I checked the surroundings. Certain that there was no one watching the house, I slid the door shut and turned round to them._

 _"Medical supplies?" The woman asked. She was a down to business type woman, not bothering with introductions. Steve had probably informed her of who I was already._

 _"Through there. Go into the bedroom and turn left. There's a bathroom in there, which has medical supplies in. Open the mirror, second shelf." I informed her, pointing towards the door which contained the bathroom. She nodded, not even thanking me for hosting her, and left to fix up her injuries._

 _"I'm sorry. Romanoff's not very friendly with people that she doesn't know well. Gives her time to trust people."_

 _"And what makes you think you can trust me?" I asked, curious as to why he had decided to crash here after only two days of meeting. He looked up and stared straight into my eyes, his words speaking the truth._

 _"Because you saw me as Steve Rogers, not Captain America." he said, a brief smile flitting past his lips. I trusted Steve, not just because he was Captain America, but he wouldn't do all the stupid things the press are accusing him of._

 _"Did you say Romanoff? As in Natasha Romanoff?" I asked, picking up the drink from the table and finally taking the sip of orange juice that I needed. I had heard the name Romanoff shot round a few times, finding out that she was a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D agent and I wondered what she was doing with Rogers._

 _"Yeah." he replied, simply._

 _"Why is she with you? You two on an assignment or something? S.H.I.E.L.D partners or romantic?" I asked, slightly worried that he would take it the wrong way._

 _He shook his head instantly, cheeks rising up to a light shade of pink. "She...she isn't my girlfriend. We are mission partners. Strike Team Delta. She is usually paired up with another agent called Clint, but Fury tasked us to each other a couple of weeks ago." he explained and I nodded, placing the glass that I was drinking out of into the sink when I had finished._

 _"Have you got a plan? The media are conflicted about whether to believe you or not." I told him, sliding him the newspaper. His eyes briefly scanned over it, reading the relevant information. I wondered whether his eyesight was improved with the serum. Imagine, no matter how much you looked at electronics, your eyesight would never falter._

 _"Yeah. I've got parts of it, but I'll need to go over it with Nat." he explained and I nodded, letting him attend to Romanoff. "Thanks again, Sam. I'm sorry." he said and I waved my hand._

 _"Don't worry about it, man." I replied and smiled at him. He returned the smile and then turned his back to attend to his partner._

 _Half an hour later, after breakfast had been eaten and the two agents had sorted out their injuries, we were in my living room sorting out what our plan was. They were talking about how to take down S.H.I.E.L.D and I stared at them, wondering whether I should suggest that I should get geared up into the suit again. It would be an awful lot of pain to bring back to my mind. The last time I wore the suit was when I was with Riley, the day that he had died. I refused to wear it after that day, because it was too much for me to handle. They understood and decided not to use the suits after that, feeling that it was too much for the world to handle. Also, they considered the suit less stable than working on the ground. So they kept them locked up...and I knew exactly where._

 _"So the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D officer in broad daylight?" Steve question and, in a split decision, I grabbed the folder from the top of one of my cabinets and placed it on the table in front of them._

 _"The answer is, you don't." I replied._

 _"What's this?" Steve asked, inspecting the front of the folder curiously._

 _"Call it a resume." I replied as Natasha picked up a photo of me and Riley that was attached to the front of it with a paperclip. I had the same photocopied and put on my fridge and had it in a frame in my room too._

 _"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you? You didn't say he was a Pararescue." Nat said, turning to Steve as he took the photo._

 _"Is this Riley?" he asked, gesturing the man standing next to me in the photo._

 _"Yeah." I replied quietly, not trying to think about the pain spreading through my chest again. Hearing my best friend's name without him being close hurt._

 _"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use? A stealth chute?" Did this woman know every mission or something? It was a big mission for the Unites Airforce, but to remember that piece of information is incredible. The thought of the choppers brought me back to Ashley and I wondered how she was. 'I might be able to find her on Facebook and get in touch with her.' I thought to myself, putting the thought to the back of my mind. I didn't realise that actually thought about her as a friend._

 _"No. These." I said, flipping over the folder to the photos of the suit and me flying with it._

 _"I thought you said you were a pilot." Steve asked, raising an eyebrow._

 _"I never said pilot." I replied, folding my arms over my chest with a smug look on my face. A smirk rose on Natasha's face, falling almost instantly afterwards._

 _"I can't ask you to do this Sam." Steve said, gesturing to the folder's contents._

 _"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." I said, half wanting to help Steve, half wanting to get back in the game. I did miss the military way of living, finding the comfort of my own home a little daunting. The runs around the park were good, but I missed the army way of life. Maybe rattling around with a new crew would be good..._

 _"Where can we get our hands on one of things?" Steve asked, filtering through the pieces of paper with his fingers._

 _"The last one is an Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a 12-inch steel wall." I replied, expecting them both to think it would a problem for them both to get the suit._

 _Natasha just shrugged and Steve replied "Shouldn't be a problem."_

 _I shook my head, laughing to myself. "You two are crazy." I said, walking back to the kitchen to help myself to a second lunch._

After that, all hell broke loose. We got the suit, got captured, got set free by a woman named Maria Hill, began a fight with a bunch of powerful people and….and won? I couldn't believe it by the end of it. I had fought with a man that I later found out was called 'Brock Rumlow'. Apparently Natasha always found him to be a suspicious little rat, so she wasn't really a surprise that he was HYDRA too. We used the helicopter to search for Rogers who had been seen by Hill falling from one of the helicarriers.

We searched and searched, but saw no sight of him in the water until Fury spotted a body lying at the side of the river in a red, white and blue suit, lying down and when I saw him I had a small amount of worry rush through me at the thought of him being dead.

I spent two days waiting for Rogers to wake up, listening to the TroubleMan Soundtrack the entire time, because I wanted Steve to wake up. The whole situation just reminded me of Riley. I missed the man lots, but there was nothing I could do and I had to move on with life. I had sat by the side of his bed waiting for him to awaken one day, coming in every morning to check on him, when I felt my eyes drift off. I couldn't sleep though for the whole two days. I was worried about nightmares. My attention was brought to him when he said his catchphrase and I spent he rest of the day talking with him before he was let out of the hospital.

After that, I decided to help him search for Bucky, Steve's best friend that had been frozen, like Steve, but was brainwashed by HYDRA to do their dirty work. It was only honorary to help Steve out with his problems and I did honestly want to help find Bucky to help him. Nightmares came to me most nights, only a few of them involved me screaming. Steve had looked after me though, making sure that I wasn't doing anything crazy in my dreams.

We spent about a month and a half searching on our own with no luck before Natasha called to say that we should come back to the tower, the courts finally letting go of the charges against all three of them. From the moment I stepped foot in the tower, I knew that it wasn't really my place. I didn't like the environment that was there, so after a while I decided to leave, allowing Steve to get on with his Avenging while I went back to my therapist job while I decided what to do.

Me and Steve met up most nights, looking over clues and hints as to where Bucky could be and he often came round to the house to have general catch ups on life. He had called me up asking whether he wanted to come to a party at the Avengers Tower, saying that we were celebrating, because the sceptre that was Loki's had been found.

I was extremely glad I went to the party, meeting all the people that I hadn't caught up with in ages. I was treating myself to making my own drink at the bar when I was approached by Natasha.

 _"Samuel." she greeted, sitting on one of the bar stools as I made myself a drink._

 _"Don't call me that, Romanoff. You know I hate it." I replied, remembering the time when I visited and she asked whether my full name was Sam or Samuel. She discovered it was Samuel and never stopped calling me it._

 _"I know." she smirked, leaning over the bar and looking at the bottles. "You know how to make a bone dry martini?" she asked._

 _"Are you kidding? Of course." I replied, looking at the bottles. "Gin or vodka?"_

 _"What do you think?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, knowing that I would catch onto what she was saying. She was Russian. Nat ONLY drunk Vodka._

 _"I don't understand how it doesn't affect you. Didn't you have a drink earlier?" I asked and she nodded, taking an olive from a nearby bowl and popping it into her mouth._

 _"I have a very high tolerance."_

 _"So you're like Steve?" I asked and she looked at me curiously, trying to figure out how I knew._

 _"Yes, the serum helps with that." she replied and then looked at me curiously for a moment as she tried to figure out how I knew Steve couldn't drink a lot, before her face relaxed and a look of mirth began in her eyes. "Drinking competition?" she asked, an amused smirk on her lips as she already knew the answer._

 _"Drinking competition." I confirmed, trying to get the awful memories of me throwing up everywhere out of my mind. I shook my head, laughing to myself slightly, as I finished off Natasha's drink handing it to her once I had finished it. I placed an olive on the side and gave it to her._

 _"Very impressive, Wilson." she said and sipped the drink slightly. "Not the worst I've had." she smiled, her red lips plumping her lips and making her more attractive than usual, not that she needed the lips. Natasha was practically the dream woman - funny, beautiful, intelligent, but even though I flirted with her she was still too secretive. I didn't find everything about her appealing and I wasn't completely interested in her. She seemed to be interested in her partner, Barton, from what Steve had told me anyway. They were both agents, both spies, and from the way Steve described them made them seem perfect for each other._

 _"Why thank you, Miss Romanoff." I replied, smirking, and took a swig of the beer I had resting next to me on the counter._

 _"Elisa?" Natasha asked and I was confused by what she was talking about until I saw a woman begin to walk towards the bar, her brown eyes focused on Natasha. She had light brown hair that was slightly curled, the ends of it reaching an inch or so below her collarbone. The layered curls elegantly framed her face, one shorter piece of hair hooking round the bottom of her face, tucking nearly beneath her chin._

 _Her face was bare, no fancy make-up decorating it like many of the other girls in the room. I could see the tiredness underneath her eyes, but it didn't make her any less stunning. The dress she was wearing was short, but not too short, stopping just above her mid-thigh. It was a strapless, black silk dress that wrapped around her body beautifully. She wasn't skinny, but did look like she worked out, making her appear strong like Natasha in a way, not that she seemed to be anything like Natasha._

 _I had never been lucky with girls and I sure as hell wasn't going to be lucky with this one. I put my thoughts aside when I saw her eyes flicker over to me, the brown orbs zoning in on my own. I felt my stomach tighten at the sight of her looking at me and I had to flicker my eyes down to the drinks before it felt too intense._

 _"Natasha, hey!" she greeted her. The pair seemed most likely to be friends as the woman, who I now knew as Elisa, bumped shoulders with the woman. Natasha didn't seem like an overly 'huggy' person._

 _"What are you doing here?" Nat asked, stirring the martini I made for her._

 _"Well, I've been offered a job. Hill's assistant." I looked up to see her smiling gleefully at Natasha who was looking at the woman with pride. "I know it's what my job used to be at S.H.I.E.L.D, but there's only so long that you can be a waitress, am I right?" she said and Natasha smiled in return._

 _"I tried that once just as a cover and it was painful enough." Natasha said, causing a small laugh to burst out of the woman. It was a small chuckle, but still sounded full of life. She seemed like a lively women, quite like me in that sense, but I couldn't seem to even speak a word, my lips sealed shut. I had never been nervous about women, always overconfident and flirty. I didn't understand why I couldn't talk to the woman, but after a moment I didn't have to think about that._

 _"You gonna introduce me?" the woman asked and my head rose, recognising that she was indeed talking about me._

 _"I'm surprised he hasn't introduced himself." Natasha snorted, her lips closing around the side of her glass to take a drink._

 _"Sam Wilson, ma'am." I said, not even recognising the term I had used to address her by. Natasha frowned at me for a moment, confused as to why I had called her that. I was confused too. I never used that term._

 _"Ma'am? Never been called that before." she smiled and I saw the faintest blush rise on her cheeks. I saw her put her elbows on the table and try to turn her head, her hands trying to hide the red._

 _"Must be spending too much time around Steve." I replied and she laughed whilst Natasha smiled._

 _"Yeah, I heard he's quite an old-fashioned dude." she said, looking over at the man who was talking with Barton and a few others. I noticed Natasha's eyes flicker over to the group Steve was with and they seemed to remain on Barton, glowering a little when she noticed that he was talking with another woman, one that seemed to be all over Clint, pressing her hands against his chest. Clint didn't seem to encourage or push the woman off, but I could tell that Natasha didn't like it._

 _"Oh, just go over already." Elisa said, sounding exasperated from Natasha's lack of communication skills with Barton._

 _"Like I have any interest in who Barton sleeps with." Romanoff said, getting up and walking over in the opposite direction that Barton, Steve and their group were situated in. Elisa rolled her eyes and turned herself back to face me. Her nails were tapping rhythmically against the desk as her eyes followed the woman walking in the opposite direction._

 _"She needs to give up and admit her feelings already." she told me, her eyes flicking back to mine. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand, her elbow leaning on the bar to hold her head up._

 _"You think so too?" I asked, picking up the cool beer in my hand and taking a sip to calm my nerves. I didn't understand why I was nervous. I had spoken with many women in the past and not even broken into a sweat. I felt a little more at ease talking to the woman, finding conversing with her more comfortable than before. All I knew about this woman was that her name was Elisa and she had become the new assistant to Hill._

 _"God, it's obvious." she replied, stopping the tapping of her fingertips against the bar surface. "I don't think she realises how much she cares for him."_

 _"From what I've heard, they seem well suited to each other." I replied and she raised an eyebrow._

 _"Do you know them well?" she asked, clasping her hands together and leaning forwards slightly._

 _"I don't really know Clint very much, but I've spoken to him a few times and would consider him a friend. Do you remember the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D?" I asked and she shook her head, which surprised me slightly._

 _"Yeah, I have no idea about the biggest social security failure in history." she said, seriously, and then broke into a grin, giggling to herself, which made me smile. I was completely and utterly enchanted by the woman. I had never 'fallen' for someone at first sight, but this woman...just seemed perfect. "I used to work for S.H.I.E.L.D." she explained and I nodded my head in understanding. "Not a high level, but I worked as Hill's secretary, not looking into the files, but transferring them to places and being her PA. I was actually having one of my few days off when HYDRA took over, because Hill had apparently gone rogue too, so I wasn't hurt, but many of my friends died in the downfall." I wanted to apologise and tell her that I was sorry I couldn't save them, but she kept talking. "I'm just happy that Steve was there, along with Nat and that Falcon guy."_

 _I almost spluttered on the drink that I had and she looked at me curiously wondering why I was reacting the way I was. Obviously, she hadn't delved deeply into the S.H.I.E.L.D. I coughed, trying to stop the drink from going down my throat, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "What? Did I say something wrong?"_

 _I laughed slightly and she fake pouted at me. "What is it?" she asked, curiously, pushing my shoulder to try and get me to talk._

 _"The name's just Falcon." I said with an amused grin. I looked at her frozen face expression and took a sip of beer to try and hide my smile._

 _"I...I am so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or..."_

 _"It's fine." I said, putting my hand up._

 _"Wow, that's incredible. How come you're not..." she said, gesturing to the building. "avenging? I never see your name in the news."_

 _I shrugged. "I don't want it to be my life, at least at the moment. I prefer being Steve's therapist right now."_

 _She raised an eyebrow. "Steve has a therapist?"_

 _My mouth dropped for a moment before I pulled it back up to close the gap between my lips. "Was I meant to tell you that? Isn't there meant to be a patient-therapist confidentiality agreement?" I asked myself aloud before shrugging. "Oh well..." I told her and she smiled at me, one that was often on her face. I was yet to see her upset, but it wasn't really a sight I wanted to see. She looked so happy, like there were no problems in the world. "I prefer not being part of the team and just doing my own thing, but..I must admit I do miss the work sometimes." I had considered going back to the Avengers, but I also wondered whether they wanted me back after rejecting them last time. Perhaps Cap would let me back in..._

 _"For now the lonely road, huh?" she asked and I nodded._

 _"Yep." I said, nodding, and drank the last drops of beer in the bottle I had. There was a moment of silence between us, which was slightly awkward. I didn't really know what to say after that. Should I ask her about her occupation? But I already know that she's working for Hill. Maybe I should ask about-_

 _"So how come you're Cap's therapist?" she asked, breaking the silence that was killing our conversation._

 _We went into a discussion about how I met him while running all the way up to me sitting on the chair next to his bed listening to the Troubleman Soundtrack. "Marvin Gaye, yes!" she said with a smile as she took a sip of her cocktail. "Fantastic artist." she added and I was about to agree with her wholeheartedly, but a woman came up from behind her and asked her to dance, presumably a friend of hers._

 _As she was dragged off by her best friend, leaving her drink at the bar, she shouted "It was nice to meet you, Sam." as they started dancing with some other people on the floor. The once quiet Avengers Tower had now turned into a full on party, drinks being spilled here there and everywhere. I hadn't even realised that the party had gotten that loud, because I was so distracted by the woman I had just met._

 _"You two seemed to get along well..." I heard Natasha's teasing tone resonate towards me and I turned my head to see her walk towards me, swaying her hips like usual as she did._

 _I looked out at her, speaking as she danced with a couple of her friends. "She seems nice."_

 _"You interested?" Natasha asked and I raised my eyebrows._

 _"I just met her." I argued, trying not to make myself seem too keen. The woman was gorgeous._

 _"Are you interested?" she asked again, persistent for an answer. I rolled my eyes and picked up another beer from the box that was below the bar. I used the bottle opener to pull the lid off and allow myself to take a long swig, which must've annoyed her, before answering her question._

 _"I mean...she's beautiful and funny, but..." I began, trying to explain how I felt, but Nat just raised an eyebrow at me, not believing me for a second. I sighed and leaned forward to whisper to her "I think she is a brilliant woman." I said with a small smile and she allowed a smirk to quickly pull up on the side of her lips._

 _"Really?" she asked. Natasha didn't seem like the one for gossip, but I let her keep my secrets anyway, knowing that they were safe with her._

 _"Yeah, but I'm not going to make a move. It's not like I'm going to see her again." I said, trying not to sound like I was complaining and feeling sorry for myself. The other short romantic relationships that I had experienced developed over a long period of time being friends. But she seemed different and I liked it. Of course, I didn't want to be romantic with her yet, but I missed having someone to care for. Riley was the person I cared for, not in a romantic way obviously, but I still cared for him._

 _"You never know, what about if you joined the Avengers?" she suggested and I thought she was joking for a minute before I saw the look on her face._

 _"You're joking, right?" I said, placing the beer back on the table and place my hands on my side of the counter. "I'm not joining the Avengers for the chance to get with a girl..." I said. That would be ridiculously lame._

 _"I didn't mean for that, even though it would be a benefit." she said, shrugging. To be honest, I had been tempted to go back. "Don't you miss the excitement of battle? Battling with a team?" Nat asked and I pursed my lips together in thought._

 _"I do miss it." I admitted, pushing my hands a little further into the desk. I thought about how great it would be to get back into the field, but my self-confidence was dipping and rising about the issue. "The world doesn't need me."_

 _"It does." Natasha said, causing me to look into her eyes. Natasha sharing honesty was very rare, so I decided to let her talk for a little longer. "The Avengers need you. There have been too many disasters and we need as many qualified members as we can."_

 _I sighed, looking down at the bar surface as I heard the music blaring in the background. "Are you sure? I'm not sure Steve would let me back."_

 _"Of course he would. He wants you to come back." she said, grabbing the vodka and a glass from the bar. My eyes flickered to Clint who was on the other side of the room...kissing the girl that he had met earlier. I raised an eyebrow at Natasha who poured her drink right up to the top of the glass, before quickly drinking the whole thing in one go. I ignored her actions and continued with the conversation._

 _"Steve wants me back with the Avengers?" I asked and she nodded, beginning to fill up her drink again._

 _"He said that you should be here with us." she said, chugging back her shot. "That you belonged on the team..." she finished, slamming her glass on the top of the bar. I decided not to bring up the fact that Clint was now taking the girl outside the room. I saw Nat's eyes flicker to the doorway and back, but she just poured herself another drink. Apparently, she was planning on getting drunk._

 _"I feel like I've taken too long to go to the team. You think the others will want me with them?" I asked and she smiled._

 _"We could always do with Samuel Wilson." she said and I narrowed my eyes at her, causing her to smirk at me. Stupid name._

We continued to talk that night about other random topics, Elisa not being mentioned again. Clint wasn't mentioned either, especially when he didn't come back into the room. My eyes got drawn to Steve at some points, noticing that he was talking with Hill about something. They looked to be in quite a depthy conversation, not serious, but probably work related, but I was still going to interrogate him about it at some point. I didn't talk to her at any other point that night and didn't get the chance to see her for a while. When the party finished, I decided to leave and not stay with the Avengers, even though Steve offered to. He said that joining the Avengers would be a good idea and I agreed that I would take some time to consider it.

The next few days were madness - Ultron causing the whole world to turn upside down. I received a message from Hill telling me to meet her at a location in D.C. I did not expect her to be there with a helicarrier at the ready to take us to Sokovia. On the way, we had heard that the city was flying. I quickly suited up and joined the Avengers in battle, having a chat with Rhodey on the way about how to take out the strays that were trying to escape. We fought brilliantly together actually, really working well together as a team, and I knew that I had found friendship with him even if it was in grim circumstances.

After we had finished fighting, we landed on the helicarrier together and I realised that...I'd missed fighting, doing the right thing for my country. Riley was dead and I didn't realise it before, but fighting with the Falcon suit was the one thing that I shared with him. Memories would stay in my mind forever of how we grew up, but we loved using the Falcon machines, I think anyone would. I had decided that I was going to stay with them.

I was on the helicarrier, trying to find out if everyone was okay and fixing minor injuries as I was a qualified nurse, and heard a gut-wrenching scream in the distance. Every turned to look, trying to locate the noise, but I couldn't see the person anywhere. It was a woman's scream, definitely a woman. I quickly looked to Hill and asked her "Who was that?"

She stared at me, face completely blank of emotion, and replied "Pietro Maximoff is dead. That was his sister." I didn't understand Hill sometimes. She could take a death so lightly. I mean, sure I didn't know the kid, but still. He had died fighting on the side of the Avengers. _That has got to mean something, hasn't it?_

After a while, more and more Avengers piled through the doors of the helicarrier, Nat coming in first followed by Clint who looked half-defeated. He was carrying the Maximoff boy in his arms, moving to a room that he could place the body in, before going through a door that Romanoff had entered through earlier. They all came in. All of them. Apart from Bruce. I didn't know him very well, but you could tell that he hated being the Hulk. Bruce Banner was a scientist to me, not the monster everyone thought he was. I wondered whether he had considered therapy, but put it to the back of my mind, because it wasn't important.

I saw Steve walk through the doors and walked over to me as soon as he locked eyes with me. "You were brilliant out there." he said, honesty bleeding through his tone as he grasped my hand with his. I shook it tightly and clapped him on the back before we withdrew our hands.

"Thanks." I replied, smiling sadly at him. It was still an upsetting environment to be in, but I was glad I contributed to helping the people.

"Are you going to stay around for a while?" he asked, clutching his side from an injury that he must've obtained during the battle.

I nodded my head slightly. "I think so." I responded and looked around, trying to figure out what I had been through for the past ten years.

 **Okay, so a bit of an abrupt ending, but you know I hope I did this justice. It will continue from this point onwards now, so post-AOU is the present time for them. It took me FOREVER to finish. Please review and respond to what I've written at the top about POV's, you will be the one reading it after all? I think it would be nice to keep it from Falcon's perspective, but I want your view too. There will be more Elisa and Falcon soon, I promise :)**

 **Please review and point out any mistakes!**

 **THANK YOU!**


	2. Chapter 2

**WARNING: Language!**

 **AvengersPrincess15, KittyCatChibi, TheNamesCocoaPuff, User1998, doctor3378,, emc61298 and golden-priestess - THANK YOU ALL FOR FOLLOWING!**

 **REVIEWS:**

 **Quicksilverfan1 - Oh my goodness, thank you! I thought it would be really difficult to write Falcon and, to be honest, it is quite hard. Because not much is explored in the MCU of his character, I'm having to really think about who he is. I haven't been reading any Falcon fanfictions at the minute. Keeping those well away! I'm really happy that you loved the backstory as well. Did A LOT of research for it!**

 **AvengersPrincess15 - Yeah, Sam needs more love. Imagine a film for him? That would be good! I'm writing a letter to MARVEL right now! I'm really happy that you love it and please keep the reviews up, because I love hearing about what you think!**

 **Sorry this is so late. I haven't had a free day since the 7th of July. Writing these has been so difficult, especially because all four stories are pieced together. If you haven't already, check out my other three linked stories - The Two Assassins, The Real Steve Rogers and The Resurrection of Pietro Maximoff. Thank you!**

I looked over at busy staff rushing around the helicarrier, guiding Sokovians through the base and trying to figure out a solution to the shit-storm that had been concocted in the past few hours. I had no idea where the rest of the team were and Steve seemed like he needed his own space, so instead of pestering him, I stepped forward in the helicarrier and took a better look at the architecture. There was a podium in the middle that I guessed Fury stood on, needing all the attention as usual. Then there were several screens occupied by the staff that weren't medical agents. A few were in suits and definitely weren't dressed for a battle. The large glass windows, one of which was shattered, gave a breathtaking view of the sky and world below. The sky was filled with a few clouds, but you could see a faint glimpse of yellow and red bursting through them. I had never been inside a helicarrier properly, only briefly catching a glimpse of it during DC. I would've thought it were paradise if I didn't know it was above a hole in the ground where Sokovia used to be. I noticed some families seeking help and wanted to offer medical assistance to them, but an agent was soon in my face, clipboard in hand.

The agent was young, couldn't be over 25, but had a mature demeanour about her. Her brown hair was fixed into a tight ponytail, no bumps leading back to where it was tied. Her face looked painfully pulled back from the secure grip of the ponytail and I felt that I should've loosened it for her to make her life easier. Her make-up was simple and plain, mascara evident on her eyelashes, but no eyeliner or lipstick added to her, just the faint tinge of foundation on her cheeks. The clipboard was pressed up against her chest as if she were trying to hide information from me, but I didn't dwell on it, remembering that all agents were secretive about themselves. I wondered whether Elisa was like any of these agents in reality. From the party, I got the impression that she was a free, fun-loving agent that didn't care about what other people thought about her. She looked stunning, but that wasn't the main thing I cared about. She was funny and seemed to be smart and I tried not to think about it for too long. She might be Hill's assistant, but that didn't mean I was going to see her all that often.

"Mr. Wilson, we need to take your equipment to a secure location so that it can be tagged and kept away from threats." she told me, sounding more like a robot than a human. I was tempted to tap her on the head with my knuckles to see whether a 'clink' could be heard. The woman was in, what seemed to be, an expensive uniform and, looking at the other, I noticed that both gender's wore different suits, but overall had the blue, canvas-like appearance to them. They didn't look comfortable and certainly didn't look cheap.

"Who gave you this order?" I asked, cutting the crap of an introduction to the woman. She already knew my name and I saw, by her name badge, that her name was Penelope Branson. I would only forget her name, along with everyone else's on the ship. I was unsure about whether to trust anyone on the ship. Steve did, otherwise he wouldn't be here, but, as I looked around at the agents, I found it hard to think about placing my trust in any of them. It wasn't like I knew any of them. I wasn't judging there looks, but I was judging the leader they came with. Nick Fury. Steve trusted him, so I pretended to also, but inside my gut, I had an off feeling about him, one that would tell me to take him down in a second. However, because of his power and the fact that Steve trusted him, I didn't dream of doing such a thing. Also, he was a leader, a commanding officer to the agents, and I respected him for that. But I didn't trust him.

"Director Fury, Sir." she replied. The title she gave me didn't seem right and I had to adjust my shoulders to get rid of the tense feeling in my back the title had brought up. I never suited being in a position above a large group of people. In the army, it was small, me and Riley going by ourselves most of the time, but when we were in a unit, it was 5 or 6 people, never more than that. We always had someone above us, giving us instructions, too that took the pressure off my shoulders. I could never do Fury's job. I looked at the man in question who was already looking at me. _How long has he been doing that for? That's weird, man._ I saw Fury nod and I took that as a signal to trust the agent.

I looked back at the agent. "Very well, Agent Branson, and please call me Sam." I replied, telling her the nickname that everyone called me. I never introduced myself as Samuel, because I hated the name ever since I was a child. That was the one thing that my parents did wrong. Natasha teased me about it constantly and it made me on edge about talking to her, just in case she would slip the first name in conversation. Romanoff irritated me sometimes.

The agent nodded and gestured for me to follow her, which I did. I saw Steve being taken away by Hill in the opposite direction and relaxed a little more, knowing that he was in safe hands that could be trusted. Maria was the one that brought me into the Sokovian fight after all and had been here for all these years. However, at the party, she didn't seem all that welcoming. Perhaps Steve was right when he said Maria didn't like me and Elisa talking. I didn't understood her problem if she did, we were just talking. It wasn't even flirting. That was to come...

My thoughts went back to Natasha. When we were talking at the tower, Steve said that something may have been occurring between Dr. Banner and Natasha, which didn't seem like a good match, but if they wanted to be together, then who was I to stop them. Natasha seemed defeated earlier and I hoped that, wherever she was, Clint was taking care of her. I didn't know where any of the Avengers were and it was making me nervous. Natasha was one hell of a badass and having her around made me feel much safer than having any of the others Avengers around, apart from Steve. I had gotten along well with Clint and wouldn't mind having him to protect me, but I hadn't really spoken much with Thor, Bruce and Tony. Rhodey worked very well with me in the battle and we had become better friends because of it. It made me think about what would happen after all this was over. Would I work with him again?

Agent Branson and I were walking down a corridor, the noise level almost unbearable. There were families crying on the floor together and some arguing with the S.H.I.E.L.D agents. I remember seeing graphetee on the wall in Sokovia that wasn't showing off the Avengers in the best light. A lot of them seemed to hate the Avengers, because of people like Tony Stark. His weapons bombed their town and killed many of their citizens. Tony wasn't like that anymore, but, to be honest, I would most likely hold a grudge against someone who had done that.

Branson came to a door that read 'Storage Room A'. "A for a Avengers, am I right?" I asked and she nodded once.

"Yes, Sir. Director Fury thought it wise to keep your equipment with your fellow teammates." she replied, pressing her thumb against the door handle, which seemed to light up when she did. There was a quiet clicking noise and the door opened shortly after. _'Fellow teammates'? Am I one of the Avengers now?_ It was an exciting and dangerous thought to consider. I would be putting not just my life at risk, but my family and friends. However, I knew that, if I did join, I would be careful not put their lives at jeopardy.

I entered the room and she pointed to a shelf that had a container slotted on top of it. When the door shut, the noise of the people was gone so quickly that I actually flinched at the new silence. It was uncomfortable when it was that quiet, but being outside the door seemed to be a worse option. She got the container and explained "This is for your equipment." She gestured to a wall on the other side of the room and strolled over to it. She scanned her thumb against a random part of the wall and said "Clothes for Sam Wilson." I thought she was talking like a mad person for a second, before the wall slowly slid up after 10 seconds to reveal an outfit on a set of hangers, shoes on a small shelf and underwear on another one. "You can go and change in your room, but it is a 10 minute walk and I believe that Director Fury wished to speak with you. Do you need anything else?" the woman asked and I turned around to see that she was already standing by the door. I noticed the door had a lock on it and couldn't think of any more questions that I wanted to ask.

"No, thank you." I replied and she nodded stiffly.

"I'll leave you to it, Mr. Wilson." she replied and opened the door, the sound buzzing from the outside. When the door shut, it was back to complete silence. I was tucked away in the room, which seemed to be sound-proof, because there was a lot going on outside from what I could tell. I walked up to the door, locked it and quickly changed out of my suit, putting it into the box once I was done. I started getting changed into the casual clothes that were set out for me after I had placed my dirty clothes in a chute that said 'Laundry'.

When the container was firmly slotted back into the space that had the label 'The Falcon' written above it, I unlocked the door and was bombarded with noise once again. I shut the door and stayed by the door as I tried to figure out how to navigate a path to Fury. Once I realised the direction that I had come from, I headed that way, trying to dodge all the people. I accidentally bumped into a Sokovian who started shouting at me in Russian. Whatever he said, it wasn't good. An agent quickly got hold of him and dragged him away, locking his arms around him to restrain him.

I took a breathe to relax and continued my way down the corridor. Fury, who was standing at his podium, looking as righteous as ever. I stepped up next to him and said "You wanted to see me."

He didn't turn around as he replied. Always so dramatic. "I wanted to talk to you about joining the Avengers, make sure you were certain about being on the team."

"The battle has just finished and this is what you're thinking about?" I asked, incredulously. He turned around at that comment, his one eye staring down at me.

"The world needs to think the Avengers are still invincible. The image needs to remain strong, especially now that Mr. Maximoff has been taken down." he said, stepping off of the podium to join me. "The Avengers will be transferred to a new facility and be run, at the minute, by Rogers."

"At the moment?" I asked, curiously.

"I have an idea about joint leadership that I am going to propose to Rogers, but until then he remains in his position by himself." I wondered who the possible leader could be, but that was a thought for another time. "Regardless, I need your written consent to join the team." he said, walking over to the large table in the centre and opening up a file on top of it. The file had 'CLASSIFIED' printed over the top of it in red and a few dotted lines for where I assumed I would write my name.

"Would I be able to get someone to talk me through the contract?" I asked, staring at the mass of paper in the file. It seemed like it was 100 pages long. I was not going to do that now...

"When we arrive at the Avenger's Tower, I can get Miss Jones to talk you through all the details in the contract and answer any questions you might have."

"Who's Miss Jones?" I asked.

"You met her at the party at the Stark Tower. Miss Elisa Jones, new assistant to Maria Hill." he said and I looked over at him, surprised that it was the same woman I had spoken to only a few nights ago. That meant I would get to see her again, which encouraged me a little more to join the Avengers.

"So she will be working with the Avengers?" I asked, trying not to sound overly interested. I guessed that Fury was similar to Hill and wouldn't like me talking with Elisa. She wasn't even a friend - we had only talked once after all. She had probably forgotten me.

"Hill and Jones will be working with the Avengers, yes, but not as part of the task force." he explained. "I'll get someone to inform Miss Jones that you need a read-through of the brief." ' _Why can't you tell her yourself?'_ I almost asked, but remembered my place in the 'food-chain'.

"Excuse me, Director." someone said from behind me. I turned round and was met with Maria Hill. She looked a little flustered and there was a small amount of panic in her eye. "I need to talk with Wilson immediately." she said, urgency in her voice. Her lips were tight and her body was tense. Something was definitely wrong. Her hands were clasped together behind her back and her shoulders were taut. Her rigid posture was not just from the years of being a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. It was something else.

"What is it, Hill?" Fury asked, not moving from his podium and not sounding very concerned at all.

"I need Wilson to come and talk with Rogers for a moment. He needs his help with something." she said and Fury nodded.

"Be quick. We need everyone ready for the meeting in 45 minutes. I also need you to speak with Miss Moore about the arrangements for Mr. Maximoff." he said and spun around, returning to his duty. I couldn't believe he wasn't more concerned, but I guessed he had 'more important' work to do than worry about the welfare of the team. Hill gestured for me to walk with her and I quickly complied, trying not to worry too much about why she was so stressed.

"What's the problem?" I asked, trying to keep up with the speed she was walking at. We were trying to push past all of the Sokovians who were in distress and managed to get down to the end of a corridor where a door that looked like a storage cupboard entrance was. She scanned her thumb on the door and I noticed that she still hadn't replied. To my surprise, the storage cupboard turned out to be a large corridor that seemed like a hotel with all of it's room doors.

"Cap needs your help, **now!** " she said, sounding more stressed out than earlier. I wondered what could've been wrong. He wasn't physically injured, because I had only spoken to him about fifteen minutes ago and, if he were physically injured, Hill would've sent for a doctor rather than his friend. We arrived at the room that had Steve's shield logo on it and she unlocked the door, placing her thumb on the scanner again.

"Would you tell me what the problem is?" I asked as she opened the door, but Hill didn't need to reply. I knew exactly what was going on, but how could it have happened?

 **Ooooo, what's wrong with Cap? I'm so sorry for not making this chapter any longer, but I really do want all four of my stories to be in sync, so I thought this was the best way. Also, I thought it was a good place to stop. Instead of having an aim of over 5,000, I am just going to write until I feel it is necessary to wait until the next chapter. Hope none of you mind. And please review this. I can't apologise enough for the wait. I haven't been home for two and a half weeks!**


	3. Panic

**Response to reviews:**

 **AvengersPrincess15 - Thank you so much. Your enthusiasm makes me smile so much, so please keep reviewing :) There are three new movies in 2020, so maybe a Falcon movie? I'm hoping so!**

 **Quicksilverfan1 - You're about to find out what happens to Steve. Don't worry about the late review! It made me smile regardless :) Thank you so much!**

 **Sorry for the late update - I've been SOOOO ridiculously busy. I've had seven days free of summer so far. SEVEN! Please enjoy this chapter and please review!**

I knew the second that I walked through the door that Steve was having a panic attack. I didn't understand why. It was a guess that the super soldier serum may have prevented a panic attack, but it seemed like a pretty solid argument. His body processed everything four times faster than the normal human being, but that wouldn't stop his brain from panicking. He had never told me that he had another panic attack, unless he had been lying to me.

His chest was heaving and I could see that he was trying to breathe as much air in as he could. His shoulders were tense and his eyes were darting around the room, panic taking over his body. His hands were gripping the carpet, his knuckles turning white.

I sprung into action, immediately going to his side with Maria touching Steve's shoulder. "I don't know what to do, should I get something?" She asked. I could tell she had never dealt with this before. Her hand was placed on his shoulder, which wasn't the best way to respond. Victims feel pressured and can't relax, sometimes meaning that they become more agitated. She was clueless and I felt a bit sorry for her.

"Don't touch him." I warned, feeling bad that I had used such a harsh tone with her. She immediately removed her hand and stepped back from Steve who was shaking. "Steve?" I grasped his hand and he gripped it tightly. I knew it would leave bruises, but I had to show him I was there for him. "I know you are trying to breathe in and I know you feel like you can't, but I need you to relax for me." I needed him to know that I knew what he was going through. I saw the panic running through his eyes and I quickly thought of what to do. "You need to breathe out, okay? Breathe out, it will allow you to breathe in." I said and he looked at me confused, his breathing still heavy. "Do it. Breathe out." I said, wincing as I forced the pain that his tight grip was causing me out of my mind. He nodded and took a few more strangled breaths before eventually breathing all the air out, gasping afterwards from the sensation of being able to breathe in properly again. "Now take deep breaths." I told him as I eased my injured hand out of his grip and clapped him on the shoulder with my free hand. His condition got better and I looked up at Hill, her surprised facial expression confusing me. "What?" I asked her, hearing Steve calm down from his panicked state, audible breaths, that were much longer than before, leaving his lungs.

"I've just...never seen that done before." She said, exasperated (?). Steve was trying to breathe normally again, but he wasn't speaking yet.

"It's often for new people at the meetings to get panic attacks, so I did my research and tried out a bunch of methods, all of which worked, but this one seemed to be the most effective." I explained and she nodded, pulling her dropped jaw back up. I could see in her eyes that she felt embarrassed for not knowing what to do. I had always seen her as a person who was experienced in every way, apart from romance. 'Agent Chill' as the nickname goes. I didn't actually believe that she hadn't had a relationship in her life, but she wasn't the most warming human being. "Don't worry, most people don't know how to treat panic attacks." I assured her and she turned to me, looking surprised that I spoke, but nodded in reply.

"I..." Steve started and I turned my attention back to him. "I don't...get them any...more." He was breathing more or less normally now, but I knew that he was tired. Steve wasn't a guy that I usually saw tired, only after an extremely tough battle. The one in DC had him in bed for days, but sometimes we spar and he doesn't even break a sweat when I'm dripping with it. This time, I could tell that something had happened and it couldn't just be because of Ultron. I could see something behind his eyes and I felt uncomfortable not knowing what it was.

"What's happened to you, man?" I asked, looking between Maria and Steve to get any type of answer. Steve was still slumped against the wall and Maria was standing beside me.

"We were walking into the room..." Maria began, opting to tell the story of events. "And he started breathing oddly, faster than usual."

"No, what has happened to him?" I asked and turned back to Steve. He was staring at me confused, sweat across his forehead, his jaw tight. "I can't tell whether this is to do with the battle or not, but you look different. You've taken a physical hit from the baffle. I get it. But you seem..." I had only seen him four days ago at the party, but he had changed a lot. When he spoke to me earlier, congratulating me on how well I had daughter in the battle, his voice didn't have the enthusiasm that it usually did. "I dunno, but it's not you." Steve shut his eyes, wincing, and sighed.

"Is it Wanda's fault?" Hill asked and I saw Steve's eyes snap open to look at her. I furrowed my eyebrows at the woman.

"Who?" I asked, wondering who she was referencing.

"Wanda Maximoff. You know the girl that you fought with, the one with red powers?" I nodded and she continued. I noticed Steve dip his head. What plagued his mind? "Did you also hear the rumour about 'a man too fast to see' and 'a glowing red woman who showed people their fears'?"

"In the Avengers newspaper?" I asked and she nodded. I couldn't get in touch with any of the Avengers, which meant I had to rely on external sources. There was a mention of it in the Avengers News, a paper that told the world daily news of the Avengers. Steve said he went for an interview with them, but informed me that he didn't expect to be the star of the issue, his face plastered over the front. The Avengers did interviews sometimes to clear rumours up, Hill featuring in a lot of them, because the Avengers were usually all busy. There was an interview every Monday with someone seen as important, occasionally personally linked with the Avengers. I had been mentioned occasionally, a lot of times after the battle in DC, but I kept out of the limelight and refused to do the interviews. I wasn't a main Avenger yet anyway, not accepting Steve's offer until about ten minutes ago. The paper was a mix of fact and fiction, but it was still quite popular. I remember seeing a small column on 'Scarlet Witch' and 'Quicksilver', two so-called villains who were trying to take down the government. It was a small feature, Ultron's attack making the main headline, similar to most newspapers. I had no idea where the papers got their sources from.

"Wanda Maximoff is Scarlet Witch." She said, realising that I had read the article. Wanda's brother must've been the one that died - he must've had the super speed. Quicksilver. Perhaps his death was the reason Steve was different. "She showed Steve, Nat, Thor and, I think, Tony their fears. I..." She said, hesitating as she looked at Steve, keeping her gaze on him even when he looked up. "I don't know what she showed him."

Both our eyes were on Steve who was switching between looking at me, Maria and the floor. "If you want me to go, I can." Maria suggested and Steve shook his head softly.

"No, it's fine." He said, sounding a little hoarse. "We need to set up for this meeting."

"Steve, if you don't want to go, the others won't be-" She stopped when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I smiled apologetically and took it out as she finished talking to Steve. "The others won't be disappointed."

The message was from Tony. Steve insisted that all of the Avengers had my number just in case of an emergency.

 **MESSAGE FROM TONY STARK:**

 **EYEPATCH NEEDS YOU IN THE CONTROL ROOM. BRING CAPTAIN VIRGINITY TOO. DON'T ASK ME WHY. FURY IS A NUTJOB. STARK.**

"You're a nutjob." I muttered under my breath, but Hill seemed to catch it and raised an eyebrow at me. "Stark." I explained, gesturing to the phone and she nodded, obviously understanding where I was coming from. "We need to go and see Fury for some reason, but i'll tell him you'll be there soon. I'll make something up." He nodded and smiled at me gratefully.

"Thank you, Sam." he said, a little breathelssly. He hadn't properly recovered yet, a panic attack being a pretty tiresome thing, so I turned to Maria, knowing that he wouldn't listen to my instructions.

"Do not let him leave this room until he can walk by himself and breathe normally." I told her and she nodded.

"Yes, Sir." she quipped, fake saluting at me. I winked at her and she rolled her eyes at my harmless flirting, knowing that I did it with everyone. Me and Maria were friends ever since the battle in DC. I had forgotten about her little spat at me during the party the other day and, by the looks of it, Maria had forgotten about it too. I left them in Steve's room and made my way towards Fury's podium. I noticed that the corridors were much clearer, agents being the only people who were walking around.

Fury was looking out at his agent, his one eye darting round the room, noticing every detail. The man always had control, even though he is assumed to be unemployed. I always doubted that he was. He asked me to join him after DC, but I didn't think that meant that he was rebuilding another S.H.I.E.L.D. I was more of a soldier than a spy, which was why I worked with Steve. I always did wonder what he did after working for the agency. My guess was that he was the Director of a smaller, more trustworthy version of S.H.I.E.L.D, a place where he would know every agent's full name and life story. Him arriving with the helicarrier gave my suspicions the evidence they needed, but the new version of S.H.I.E.L.D certainly didn't look small, agents dotted everywhere.

Fury was wearing his usual black leather outfit complete with black leather shoes and black leather eye-patch. I was curious as to whether he had any other clothes. Did he sleep in his uniform? For some reason, I felt nervous when he looked over at me from his position, arms situated behind his back, hands locked together - classic military stance. I remember Steve telling me that he had injured his eyes when he 'misplaced his trust in someone'. I was surprised he had even put that much trust in anyone. Fury struck me as someone who kept his cards close to his chest, not giving anyone too much information on his personal life, just in case they stabbed him in the back and ruined his leather uniform.

"Mr. Wilson." he greeted, not stepping off of the podium. I took that as an indication to walk over to him.

"Fury." I nodded at him and smiled, wondering if he had the capability to do so too. I couldn't imagine Fury smiling. It would just seem wrong. "You wished to see me?"

"Where is the Captain?" he asked and I stopped myself from grimacing.

"He's currently unavailable, dealing with some paperwork or something." I could tell immediately that he didn't believe the lie. To be honest, it was a pretty dreadful lie. Steve did paperwork, but I doubted that he would do it immediately after a battle where one of his comrades had died.

"Very well. I needed to talk to you in private anyway." he said and gestured for me to sit down at the large table, meant for more people than just me and Fury. He joined me at the head of the table, his chair looking much larger and comfier than mine. "I wanted to know whether you had made your decision about joining the Avengers team?"

I raised my eyebrows, surprised by his knowledge. "You know that they've been asking me about it?"

The corner of Fury's mouth lifted as he replied "Of course I do." I almost expected him to scoff at me. "So, are you?" he prompted.

I shrugged at him, answering him with the truth. "I'm not sure. Why are you so interested? Trying to persuade me out of doing so?" I couldn't understand Fury, his motives. Whenever I spoke to him, I could definitely feel the separation by rank, his towering over mine.

"I'm trying to persuade you to take the job." he said, clasping his hands together on the table and looking at me seriously with his one eye. "This world needs protectors. You have the potential to be one of them. You proved that in DC, you proved it in Lagos and you proved it again today in Sokovia. The world needs you to defend it Sam, it needs as many people as it can."

"There are other people that can be recruited." I argued, leaning back against the chair and throwing my hand up in the air.

"But you already have a relationship with the Avengers." The man did have a point - I was friends with the Avengers. The leader was my best friend for Gods sake. "And they need you." Fury could probably inspire the whole world to stop fighting. Maybe joining the Avengers would be a good idea. "The world needs you." I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at his 'motivational talk'. I was very thankful when Tony, Vision and James came into the room. I noticed Steve there, looking considerably healthier than earlier.

"Birdboy, we are going to see Wanda. You coming?" Tony asked. I gritted my teeth at the nickname, but didn't show how irritated the name made me. I looked to Fury who I couldn't read...as usual.

"This conversation can be continued at another time." he said, dismissively as he got up and went back over to his podium. Steve mentioned that he might've had a wife...how? I stood up and walked quickly over to Steve and the others, looking to Steve as soon as I got there.

"You feel any better?" I asked and he nodded. I'm sure he did feel better, physically, but something was going on in his mind that I don't think I could ever understand. He was a super soldier to start with, but the time jump must've been the main shock. Waking up in a world you didn't know must've been so scary.

"Much better, thank you." he replied and I almost laughed at him. I knew what to do with a panic attack, but it was Maria who told me to go and help Steve.

"Don't thank me, thank Maria. She's the one who came rushing to tell me to come and help you." I reminded him. I looked up and saw Natasha standing by a door, Clint running past us. I looked at him peculiarly, wondering what had gotten him so active.

"Widow, mind explaining why Barton looks happier than when he drank 20 cups of coffee in under half an hour?" Stark asked her and she smirked.

"Come and see for yourself." she called back as we approached the door.

Tony shook his head and replied "You ruin all my fun." We looked through the window, noticing Pietro lying on a bed with Clint, Wanda and someone that I didn't recognise crowded round. He was breathing...Pietro was breathing. But he was meant to be dead! I needed an explanation. Quickly.

 **Sorry if there were any mistakes! I hope you like it! Thank you and please review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for all of the support on this story. Thank you for being so patient with this story as well! I know I've had a lot of time off, but I needed it. Now I am recuperated for fanfiction writing. Next time, I'll wait until I've written the story to publish it! Haha! Merry Christmas one and all!**

 **Response to reviews:**

 **AvengersPrincess15: I really do appreciate you reviewing every chapter! It makes me smile when I read your long comments :) Hopefully, this chapter will be just as good as the last. I can't wait to get really into the story of this. I have a whole plot planned out!**

 **Quicksilverfan1: I think the reason why I liked Maria being helpless, is because usually she is so under control, so it was interesting to see her out of my comfort zone. Hmmm...Riley may or may not be introduced ;) Thank you for reviewing so much I really appreciate it! Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Previously:**

 **I looked up and saw Natasha standing by a door, Clint running past us. I looked at him peculiarly, wondering what had gotten him so active.**

 **"Widow, mind explaining why Barton looks happier than when he drank 20 cups of coffee in under half an hour?" Stark asked her and she smirked.**

 **"Come and see for yourself." she called back as we approached the door.**

 **Tony shook his head and replied "You ruin all my fun." We looked through the window, noticing Pietro lying on a bed with Clint, Wanda and someone that I didn't recognise crowded round. He was breathing...Pietro was breathing. But he was meant to be dead! I needed an explanation. Quickly.**

"Right, what in Asgard is going on?" Tony practically shouted as we all tumbled through the doorway into the room that contain a now suddenly alive Pietro. Besides Stark, we all stood there staring at the resurrected man before us. "Who's this dude?" Stark asked to the woman standing by Pietro's bed. I didn't recognise her, but by the clipboard she was holding in her hands, I guessed she was Pietro's nurse.

"Tony! Manners!" I warned and nudged his side, the billionaire glaring at me slightly in response. I could never tell whether Tony actually liked me or not. He seemed to have an cautionary side to him that made me feel unwelcome, but Steve assured me that he was like that with everyone.

"Sorry...who's this dudette?" he asked and I heard Nat sigh slightly, stepping through us to shake the woman's hand.

"Nice to meet you officially, Agent Moore." she greeted the woman now identified as 'Agent Moore'. She was pretty, gorgeous in fact, but something seemed off about her. I wasn't one for judging people, but I could tell she was the type of person to keep secrets. She reminded me a younger version of Fury.

"Likewise, Agent Romanoff." she replied, shaking Nat's hand as she looked the rest of us over.

"This is Steve, James, Sam, Vision and Tony." We all gave the nurse a nod as her eyes scanned us, lingering on Vision a little longer, which wasn't unusual. When we were walking through the helicarrier, everyone's eyes seemed to be drawn to the unfamiliar robot strolling along the corridor with the Avengers group. He drew a lot of attention, being a talking android and all.

"Okay, is anybody going to tell me what is going on?" Tony complained impatiently. He was one of the rudest men I had ever met and it was obvious that someone wasn't putting up with it.

"My name is Agent Riley Moore. I'm not a dudette, I'm a field agent and occasionally a medical agents. 'What's going on' is that this guy has just come back from the dead and I have no idea what his flipping power is, so I can't make a conclusion." Wow. I did not expect that from such a small looking woman. She looked tired, the bags under her eyes seeming to get darker every second, and was probably really busy before Pietro came in with a confusing ability to rise from the dead, so I didn't blame her for lashing out at Stark.

She took in a nervous breathe, obviously worried that she was going to get killed for talking to one of the Avengers in that tone. "That's impossible." Vision said, distracting everyone from Tony's insulted, yet impressed, facial expression. I could tell he already liked this girl even though she completely embarrassed him in front of everyone. The man didn't make sense sometimes.

"It's true. He has a pulse." she informed us.

"I believe it is because of his abilities." Clint said from behind us. _When did he get back?_ My eyebrows went to Wanda, her eyes not being able to draw away from her brother. I felt a pang in my chest, wishing that I had the chance that she did, to see who she cared about the most again. I wish I could get Riley back...but it was not to be.

"Would someone please tell me what his abilities are?" she asked, exasperatedly. Her name was Riley too, which I found odd and comforting in some weird way.

"He has increased speed." Steve told her.

"Thank you." she said and looked over her notes again, her eyes daring across the words she was writing down. "Because of those abilities, I agree with Clint's hypothesis." Clint grinned at her words, always being happy when he was right. The old man was wise and, unfortunately, was usually always right. "I believe that because he has an increased rate of speed, his body has a faster healing rate. That is why he returned."

"He's always healed faster." Wanda chimed in, nodding her head.

"Seems plausible. Well, coming back form the dead is something very impressive to put on your resume." I said, smirking to myself. Imagine being immortal. I doubt Pietro was, but having healing powers that impressive would be incredible. I was pretty sure that Steve couldn't heal from that many bullets that fast, but I hoped that there was the possibility. He risks his life too often sometimes and I worry that one day his luck is going to run out, which means I'll be left partner-less. Again.

"I guess it would make him stand out from the other candidates." Clint replied and I grinned at him. We got along well, both of us being funny people. Being funny was the only way to stand out on the team unless you were rich or had amazing natural abilities that didn't require a suit.

"Back to the point, he's alive. So we check his medical health and then train him like we planned originally before he was shot. Agreed?" Steve asked and we all nodded in agreement.

"We'll just have to wait for him to wake up." Wanda said, her hand tentatively brushing the hair away from Pietro's eyes. _Hang on...I could've sworn I just saw them flutter._

"Don't think you'll have to wait that long. I think he's waking up right now." Rhodey said, a small smile coming up from his lips.

"Pietro!" Wanda shouted, a noise that nearly deafened me. As he began to wake up, the nurse on one side and Wanda on the other, I saw a small amount of blue energy radiating from his fingers, the same energy I had seen when he was running around in Sokovia. Once his eyes were open, he was staring at the nurse who seemed to be blushing slightly. I saw the smile on his lips as he took in her face. I heard him over the comms flirting with one of the ladies in Sokovia, so of course he would flirt as soon as he woke up.

"Pietro?" Wanda called, but Pietro kept his eyes on the girl, waiting for her to smile, which she did, as well as blush and play with her fingers a little. He turned his head to Wanda and relief came onto his face.

"Wanda?" he asked and pulled her into a hug. I tried to ignore the moment Pietro and 'Agent Riley Moore' had shared, but I couldn't. If she was hiding, which I got the feeling she was, then she wasn't to be trusted. This thing between them couldn't be good. I saw the nurse write a few notes down as she fought her blush, my attention going back to the two re-united siblings.

"God, I missed you." she said, her voice slightly muffled as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Missed you too." he replied, sounding much quieter and less strong that he usually did. He had just returned from the dead, so I didn't judge him.

"Errr...Pietro?" Cap asked and the two withdrew from each other, Wanda still keeping her hand on his shoulder. "Do you understand what happened to you?" I thought it was a little harsh of Steve to immediately question the man, but it had to be done.

"We get killed we walk it off, right?" he joked, but I could see straight past him, the others not really paying attention to how he was replying. There was a small twitch in his eyes and a slight clenching of his fists that told me he was scared, his chest rising and falling a little faster than it should've. I would have to talk to him about how to get over it and immediately thought about the new proposition Fury had offered me. Perhaps working with the Avengers would be a good idea. They might need the emotional support anyway.

"Don't start walking just yet though. We need to make sure that you are back in shape first."

"How are you feeling, Mr. Maximoff?" the nurse asked, pen poised at the ready for his response.

"Pietro." he insisted. "And who are you?"

"I'm Riley Moore." I had to stop myself from thinking about the fact that they were getting to know each other on first name basis already. I had the feeling she wasn't good news. "I was assigned by Director Fury to examine your body after your death...which obviously isn't the cast anymore. So I...um...am guessing that I will now be your nurse, an occupation that I am fully qualified for I assure you." She was nervous now, not like when she was mouthing off at Stark. Compressed lips, contortion of the hands, biting her lip. She was either lying and playing a role or extremely nervous.

"Switching from a medical examiner into a doctor? Quite a career change." he said. _God, now they are flirting._ I looked at Steve and raised my eyebrows when he noticed me. He just shrugged in reply and went back to looking at the two of them, not bothered by the fact that they were flirting.

"Well I like to keep things fresh." she joked. He laughed, but then started coughing, pain making his face contort. I went to take a step forward, but stopped myself when I realised the nurse had it under control. "I'm sorry. I s-shouldn't have done that." she said, helping him to sit up.

"Don't worry about it." he said, Wanda passing him some water to drink as the nurse ogled his body a little. I rolled my eyes as she fretted around him.

"I will have to finish attaching the wires to you to examine your vital signs. I hope this is alright?"

"Do what you have to do." he replied with a nod and passed Wanda his drink.

"Is your head feeling okay now?" she asked like the worried sister she was as Agent Moore began attaching the tubes to his body.

"A little sore, but I'll survive." he replied with an attempt at a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"What happened to you?" Rhodey asked the nurse and she suddenly looked nervous, a small amount of red tinging the sides of her cheeks.

"I erm..."

"Quick kid here hit Riles with his chest." Clint said, chucking a piece of popcorn into his mouth. I calmed my mind a little to know that Clint knew her a bit more or seemed to know her at least.

"I did what now?" Pietro asked, embarrassed. _He hit her in the face with his chest?_

"Do not call me Riles." she warned, glaring at Clint slightly as she looked towards the ground.

"I'm really sorry." he apologised, but she shook her head.

"Don't worry about it." she replied and quickly looked over her notes to distract herself.

"How come I hit your head with my chest?" he asked. _Oh great, more embarrassing questions, which I'm sure will lead to more flirting._ I sarcastically cheered in my head.

She began to explain. "I was examining your wounds. I had to get quite close to your chest to do so. Sorry, I phrased that wrong! I'm always doing that. I just meant t-that I mean I was examining your wounds, just examining them. I was curious as to why you healed so um...so fast and that's why I was so close. I would never be that close to your chest unless it was require m-medically or unless you asked me to...which you wouldn't in the first place." She took a breathe and composed herself. "I'm just gonna shut up now." she said and nervously tapped the clipboard with her pen. "Yep." she said, returning to her notes.

I looked round at the others and we all had the same amount of amusement on our faces at her embarrassed outburst. She was bright red and pretending to right down some notes to keep from embarrassing herself further. There was no way that this girl was faking being this much of nervous wreck, not that it was a bad thing to be, but it was funny.

"Does this mean that I'm immortal by the way?" Pietro asked. I heard Riley sigh as she realised the awkward silence had ended. I felt a little sorry for her now.

"Getting shot, yes. Being decapitated...probably not." Tony replied, throwing some food in his mouth. _How come him and Clint always seem to be carrying food on them?_

"Are you going to be okay here for about an hour? We need to finish speaking with Fury about what happened in Sokovia." Clint said, his worried eyes scanning over the boy's wounds. It seemed the over the course of the battle, Clint had taken a fatherly role to the Sokovian. They were both flirts, so it seemed appropriate for them to work together.

"Good food, a babbling nurse." he replied, winking at the nurse who blushed even more. "I think I'm gonna be fine resting her for another hour.

"I'll speak to you later okay?" Wanda said and bringing her lips down to his head, resting them there for a few seconds before pulling away.

"Goodbye sister." he replied and watched us as we all filed out to leave. I walked beside Steve as we exited the room.

While we were walking down the corridor, I spoke up about the girl. "She's going to be trouble."

"Who? The nurse?" he asked and I nodded. I looked round at the people in the corridor, some of them snarling at us, some congratulating us, but it felt uncomfortable to be walking through the corridor with them staring at us.

"Is she being assigned to him when he returns to the tower?" I asked, worried that it might affect his focus. Then again, it was Pietro. Any woman would affect his focus.

"I have no id-" Suddenly, someone from behind us was screaming in Sokovian and me and Steve both spun round to see Natasha being held by her wrist, the woman shouting some words I couldn't understand in her face. Natasha was tense, her shoulders seeming to sieze up at the contact. I knew Natasha had a bad past, but I knew that I needed to talk to her about it at some point. I always said I would, but never got round to it.

The woman reached to grab Natasha's shoulder, me and Steve surging forward to try and stop her, but Clint got there first, an unnerving look in his eyes that I hadn't seen before. I think it was a protective instinct. He obviously felt very deeply for Natasha, something that all of us. It was uncertain whether Natasha knew that he loved her or not, but if she did, she didn't mention it.

"Would you be so kind as to unhand the young lady?" Clint asked, his words polite, but I could hear the venom in his voice.

"Would you rather me fight _you_ instead?" the woman spat, removing her hands from Nat and hooking them onto Clint's uniform threateningly. I wasn't overly worried, because the Avengers were all here and the woman didn't look strong, but we didn't want to cause a fight and have an uprising on our hands.

"You can try." Clint smirked at the woman as she narrowed her eyes at him. The entire corridor was silent, everybody's prying eyes staring at the drama that was emerging. Nobody was standing up to stop the woman, so I guessed that she didn't have a family. Perhaps they were murdered. It was difficult to tell whether someone close to her was dead or whether it was personal hate against the Avengers. We had all seen the unwelcoming graffiti on the walls in Sokovia.

"And if you challenge him, then you challenge us too." Tony added.

"Now, hang on." Steve interrupted, sounding like he was going to be the voice of reason. "Nobody should be challenging anyone." It sounded odd. He sounded...weak. Perhaps it was from the panic attack? "We..." he said, but faltered. Because I was standing next to him, I could hear his breath pick up. His jaw tightened as his nerves set it.

"We did our best to save Sokovia without causing too much damage." I began, taking on the mantle of Steve's speech and hoping that I would do it justice. I smiled at Steve as he looked at me, then looked ahead at the Sokovians to continue. "The bombs that damaged your country all those years ago were not Stark's fault, because they were stolen weapons. We will always do our best to protect you and everyone else in the world. Please, try and understand that. We understand that-"

"You don't understand a single thing..." the woman said, her hand slowly coming away from Clint's suit. Her face turned to look at me, her lips trembling slightly as tears welled up in her eyes. I felt my chest tighten as I took in her innocent appearance. "I had everything taken away from me. My parents were killed during the bombings, my sister was murdered by aliens in Manhattan and my husband died in DC during the reveal of HYDRA. Now you have destroyed my home." Her voice broke slightly when she mentioned HYDRA and I tried not to reach forward and pull the woman into a hug, but stopped myself as I predicted she would only push me away.

"I'm sorry." I said, looking round at all the innocent who had been taken away from their destroyed country. I was ridiculously angry at Stark and Bruce for creating Ultron, but it was not the time to get angry and lash out. It was the time to make them see sense, to see that the Avengers were not a threat.

"I am sorry for the people that you have lost. We all are." I looked at the ground and closed my eyes, hoping that tears wouldn't fall from my eyes. My own guilt of not saving Riley was building, a clamping feeling settling around my throat, making me take deeper breaths so that I could speak. "HYDRA has taken many that we love." I opened my eyes, feeling my emotions calm down a little as I remembered that I was delivering a speech. "But making us weak is not what they are going to do. The Avengers are not killers. We are protectors. And we will always protect you."

I walked away, worried that I would start crying if I continued. I could hear the others follow behind me and kept walking until we came to Fury's podium, where he was waiting, hands behind his back and a neutral expression on his face. His eyes flicked back and I saw him staring at Clint who had his arm wrapped around Natasha to help her.

"Instead of doing this now, we are doing it with Maximoff. We will meet in Conference Room 3 in an hour. Down that hallway on your left. Hill can show you to your rooms."

"Yes, Sir." she replied and pulled a male agent aside, talking to him quietly as we waited. As soon as she was done, she lead us to our rooms.

"Thank you, Sam." Steve said from behind me, clapping my shoulder with his hand. I smiled at him and nodded, trying not to think about the only other partner that mattered apart from Steve, the man who was now dead and gone.

"Anytime you need me, man."

 **The assistant will be added back into the story soon ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**No reviews on the last chapter unfortunately, but thank you for the new followers! Really appreciate the support and I hope you enjoy the chapter. ENJOY 2017 BY THE WAY!**

 **Previously:**

 **"Instead of doing this now, we are doing it with Maximoff. We will meet in Conference Room 3 in an hour. Down that hallway on your left. Hill can show you to your rooms."**

 **"Yes, Sir." she replied and pulled a male agent aside, talking to him quietly as we waited. As soon as she was done, she lead us to our rooms.**

 **"Thank you, Sam." Steve said from behind me, clapping my shoulder with his hand. I smiled at him and nodded, trying not to think about the only other partner that mattered apart from Steve, the man who was now dead and gone.**

 **"Anytime you need me, man."**

I placed my finger against the scanner next to the door and heard it unlock, not bothering to say goodbye to the others who were talking about something that I couldn't quite hear about. I walked over to my bed and slumped on top of it, letting my body sink into the soft duvet. I could've stayed there all day, but knew that I had to get out of my dirty suit and into some clean clothes.

I pushed myself up and was surprised to feel that my body wasn't seriously injured from the battle. I undid the wings from my back and unzipped the suit, allowing the material to drop to the floor, leaving me in the leotard that I had to wear in order for the suit not to make marks on my body. After removing that, I was left naked apart from my boxers.

I felt my eyes flutter shut, but shook my head and forced myself to wake up. I knew that if I didn't wake up right now, I would nap, which meant I wouldn't be able to go to sleep later. I walked into the shower and undressed, wrapping a towel around my waist as I worked out how to use the shower. The panel was electronic, which made it easier for me as I was super-tired and didn't need anything complicated making my head hurt.

Once I had the water on, I stepped under the rays and let the spray wash over me, my eyes closing as the warmth rushed over me. Sokovia wasn't the warmest place to be and we were fighting at a very high altitude. After washing my hair and body, I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel round my waist.

I heard a knock at the door and turned my head at the noise, wondering who it could be. My bets were one hundred percent on Steve. Surely enough, when I opened the door, he was standing there, arms crossed over his chest like he had a job to do. He was always so worried about everything in his life.

"Hey Steve."

"Hi Sam." he greeted. He looked down at my attire, or lack of it. "Sorry for interrupting." he said, blushing slightly as I walked back into my room.

"It's alright. You wanted to talk to me or something?" I asked, opening one of the drawers to find a few sets of t-shirts in there.

"Yeah, I did actually..." he replied as I picked one of the shirts and went for the second drawer, finding it full of jeans. "I'll let you get changed first though."

"I'll be back in a minute." I told him, going into the bathroom with the shirt, jeans and a pair of boxers that I had picked up from the third drawer. I quickly dried myself off in the bathroom, got dressed and went back to find Steve leaning against one of the walls. "What is it, man?" I asked, walking over to the desk and taking a seat.

Steve was tense. His eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw was locked, making him look extremely worried about something, not that Steve was ever relaxed. He always seemed to be worried about the next threat. It was good, in one way, but then really not healthy in another. "I wanted to apologise."

"For?" I asked. When he didn't answer, I looked up at him confused. He was just staring at my hands and I immediately got the message. "Steve, you don't need to be sorry about that. Hurting me wasn't your fault."

"How can you say that?" he asked, pushing himself off the wall. "I made you bruis-"

"You were panicking." I deadpanned, throwing my hand up in the air. He groaned and hit his head against the wall, making me worrying that with all his strength he might make a dent in the wall. I got up from my seat, rolling my shoulders when I felt drips from my wet hair fall on them. "What's going on dude?"

He sighed and shook his head, glancing up at me. "I just...I...I don't feel in control..."

"Of what?"

"Of anything!" he snapped, punching his fist straight through the wall, in what I'm sure was only meant to be a light push. I looked at him worriedly, wondering what it was that was so concerning to him. "You should get checked by medical." he said after a few seconds of silence. It felt more like an order to me than a suggestion, but I wasn't going to question him on that right now. Steve and I were good friends, which meant we would always protect each other, even when it got dark. My bruises weren't serious, no bones were broken, but they felt a little sore.

"Steve, I don't think it's that ba-"

"Please, it would make me feel better." he said, glancing up at me from his position at the wall, his two hands placed against it. He wasn't good, but I knew that aggravating him or trying to talk to him immediately wasn't the best choice. I was determined to talk to him later though and made a mental note to see him.

"Okay." I said, giving up, because I knew that I would never beat Steve's persistence. "I will after the meeting." He had told me in the past that he didn't know whether he had full control over his strength, sometimes pushing things too far and not realising what his powers have done. I looked at the wall and frowned, but stopped when he pushed against it to stand up.

He nodded at me and smiled briefly before stepping forward to pull me into a hug. "Are you sure you aren't that injured after the fight?"

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, pushing him away lightly, not that it did much. Me and Natasha often joked that he was the mother hen of the group. Having a best friend that was as solid as a rock sometimes work in my favour, but sometimes not. "You going soft, Captain?"

He laughed to himself and made his way towards the door as I sunk myself back into the comfort of my chair. I watched him lift his hand towards the handle, but hesitate just before he touched it. He turned to face me and smiled again, an appreciative expression on his face. "Thank you." I wasn't going to bother him by talking about the panic attack. I would do that after we had recovered.

I nodded, staying in my spot, and watched him as he slowly walked through the exit and shut the door behind him. I sighed and felt myself relax a little, not that I was on the edge around him, but being by myself always allowed me to be calm after a battle, especially after Riley was gone. I would usually think about how much fun it would be to have him beside me, fighting the battles alongside me. HYDRA being behind S.H.I.E.L.D would've been one hell of a ride for me and him.

I shook my head and made my way to the balcony, stopping myself as I realised it would be freezing. I went over to the chest of drawers by my bed and found a woollen S.H.I.E.L.D jumper in the bottom one.

I spent the next half hour sitting on the balcony in a grey jumper and grey sweatpants watching the grey sky as time passed thinking about how awfully grey life was. Life had some brilliant moments, don't get me wrong, but time is, and always will be, the enemy. The world had been taken over by Loki, HYDRA and now Tony Stark. That was a man that seriously needed a counselling session.

Needing more time is everyone's dream, in reality. Even if you feel like your life is going nowhere, like you have completely given up, some part inside of your still contains the hope to have more time to fix your life, to start new and make something of what you've got. Life is too short to waste and too long to live fully. People say if something is going bad then give it time, because things will get better, but what they really mean is that they don't know how to fix things. They are saying that if you leave the problem alone, then it will go away. People say that life is too short to grieve. The people who say that don't know real grief.

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love...time is eternity. The problems is...you can love whoever you want...but so can they. I think love is possible, but...it's extremely difficult.

Looking at my watch, I realised that there was fifteen minutes left until the meeting. I thought I might as well try and find 'Conference Room 3'. Getting there earlier would probably help me too. I left my room and walked down the corridor back to the main entrance to our dormitories. Once I was stood outside, I remembered Fury's instructions. _'Down that hallway on your left'._

"So it will be down here..." I said, walking down the corridor Hill had walked us down earlier, but in the other direction. "...and on my right..." There was a sign hanging up on the door.

 **CONFERENCE ROOMS 1 - 5**

"I guess this is the place then." I whispered, pushing the door open and going into yet another corridor (Man, this place was big) before anyone could hear me rambling to myself like I was crazy. The corridor was a little darker than the one outside, the main lights being projected from the floor rather than the ceiling, but not too blinding. Each corridor I had been in was equally different, yet equally difficult to find. I wouldn't be able to get around the helicarrier if I had a map!

I walked along the corridor until I found the metal number '3' upon one of the doors. I saw a finger scanner and let it check me before the door clicked open, but I almost jumped back out of the room when I saw Steve and Maria sitting side-by-side in the room already. I hadn't expected anyone else to be in there. Both of their faces changed immediately, like a shutter opening, a frown coming over both of their eyebrows, but not necessarily seeming overly unhappy. I had obviously interrupted something.

"Sam." Steve greeted with a smile, looking up from the file that him and Maria were looking over, a file that she close in a way that was meant to look slow, but was actually meant to be quick. She was hiding something. They both were. That was obvious by the way Steve started blushing. I said a simple 'Hey' in reply, pushing the suspicious behaviour aside, and shut the door, taking a seat around the large, marble meeting table. It was intimidating to say the least. God knows what it was going to be like with the Avengers piled around it.

"Are your hands feeling better, Wilson?" Hill asked. I glanced over at Steve's who was grimacing slightly at Hill's comment, but she didn't seem to understand. I raised both eyebrows at Steve and he shrugged at me with an innocent face on.

"What? I was worried!" Steve said, exasperatedly, and went over to the water cooler in the side of the room to get a drink. I saw Maria's eyes follow Steve for a moment before looking at me, more specifically, my hands.

"Are you feeling okay though?" she asked to which I shrugged. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but a playful grin came onto her face. "What am I going to do with you Wilson?" she asked.

"Anything you like, baby..." I winked and she glared at me, but it was a playful one. Flirting with Hill was one of my hobbies, both of us knowing that nothing would come of it, but it was harmless fun for the both of us.

"It was rhetorical." she dead-panned.

"I know." I smirked and she huffed a laugh before flipping open some of her papers. I saw Steve watch the interaction between us with interest. I don't know what was wrong with him, but I was starting to make a list of things that we needed to talk about, one of those being women. I frowned at his odd behaviour, but stopped when the door opened, revealing two, energy replenished assassins walking through the doors.

"How do you two look this good after a battle?" I asked. Natasha winked at me, but Clint just had to reply.

"We always look this good." Clint replied with a wink and I high-fived him before he sat down at the table next to Nat.

"Men." Maria and Natasha muttered together like it was well-rehearsed. Apparently, Clint was this childish quite often, but then again, I was the same type of child, so they would need to get used to us being stupid. We began talking about previous missions, then the Ultron mission. As time went on, more and more people filed into the room. Rhodey, then Wanda and Vision, and then Tony.

"Tony...you are actually early for once." Steve snorted a laugh at Hill's words, but Tony didn't flinch. I was surprised to hear that Tony didn't have a comeback for once, especially to one of Hill's comment. Usually, anyone from S.H.I.E.L.D got a good insult thrown their way by Tony when they joked about him...but not a sound left his lips. He just sat down and waited, like a boy who had been called to the principals office. Perhaps the guilt of every wrong he had done was settling into his mind and he couldn't take it any longer. Whatever it was, I needed to sit down and talk with him about it.

We sat in silence for a while before someone else walked into the room. As soon as Pietro came into the room, Maria moved from her seat and went over to stand in the corner, probably seeing Fury outside and not wanting to be recognised as a slacker. We all greeted him and asked him how he was, to which he responded that he was fine. "Yeah, the doc told me to give the speed a rest of a few days." he said, completely ignoring that advice by speeding over to one of the spare chairs once he had finished his sentence.

"Surely you should listen to your doctor's advice..." Maria advised and Pietro shrugged as people switched some seats around the make some room for the person that Fury was talking to outside. We guessed that someone extra was joining us at the meeting as there was an extra chair. The order ended up being Steve, Natasha, Clint, Pietro Wanda, Vision, me, Rhodey, Tony and then two spare seats, one next to Tony and one at the head of the table. I noticed that Hill usually remained at the side during all meetings, which I thought was slightly unfair.

"Meh." he replied to which he got a mild hit over the head from Wanda. We all laughed, including Vision, but I could see that he was slightly confused by the transaction between the brother and sister. Poor Vision. Suddenly, Fury came into the room, followed by the doctor that was treating Pietro. _What's going on?_

She was hesitating in the doorway, looking at us feeling, the intimidation radiating off of her. "Leyley, glad you are joining us." Tony voiced, speaking up for the first time since he had entered the room. Perhaps he had gained his natural charm back.

If scowl's could kill, the doctor would have us all dead. "One more nickname and I am killing everyone in this room." she threatened and walked to take the seat next to him. Even though she was intimidated, she sure had a backbone.

"Like you would be able to do that." Stark replied. We all laughed at her confidence, but Fury wasn't laughing. I looked at Rhodey and we both had the same expression of worry as the laughter died down. I turned to Fury as she sat down next to Stark.

"Is she here to kill us?" I asked, worried that we might actually all being killed by the doctor that blushed by Pietro's flirting. People smirked slightly, thinking I was joking, but I was still suspicious of the girl. We didn't know her. Well, I didn't. Clint seemed to and Natasha had 'heard of her', but that didn't really mean much. They both trusted people who had been in HYDRA, so their seal of approval didn't mean an awful lot.

"This is Agent Riley Moore, if you didn't already know that. I believe you were introduced earlier. She is a field agent, but also works as a doctor and medical examiner, which is why she was assigned to Mr. Maximoff after his 'death'. I want her to be part of your team."

I saw Steve smile friendly at her. It was the classic Captain America 'I believe you' smile that inspired people. "Okay, what's your strongest asset?" he asked and she looked at Fury, seeming to be a little scared of showing us what she could do.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, worry filling her voice. I wanted to tell Fury to not push her and tell the girl she shouldn't feel forced to do anything, but he spoke up.

"Just show them what you can do." The young girl nodded and pushed the chair away, moving to stand behind it.

"Please, please don't freak out." she said, anxiously. I felt bad for originally judging the girl. She was actually scared of what we could think and I could see that fear in her eyes. All those thoughts went away when what I thought was the impossible happened.

"Wooooaaahhhh..." James whispered from beside me. I looked at him and then back at the young doctor. _Woah._

 **Aaaaaannnddd I'll leave you on that cliffhanger, unless you want to check out 'The Resurrection of Pietro Maximoff' and read what happens to the girl. It's her POV! Please follow the three other stories along with this one, you can find them on my page. Thank you!**


	6. I'm sorry

You do not believe how sorry I am about this, but this story won't be continued until Summer of this year. I know, I've been putting it off and putting it off. I haven't had enough time to write up this story as well as the others, so I'm going to put it off for a while and make time for it in the future. I'm so sorry, please don't hate me, I am trying my best to keep up with everything, including all my school work. Exams soon...yay. Anyway, please don't unfollow, because I will be back with this and probably updating on a weekly basis.

Thank you for being so supportive of this story and again, I apologise! I'm so sorry guys :(


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